SCIENTIFIC  DUCK  SHOOTING 

IN 

EASTERN  WATERS, 

BY 
RUSSELL    SCUDDER    NYE, 


Copyright,  1895.     All  rights  reserved. 


1895. 

INDEPENDENT  PRESS, 

SPENCER  &  WEST,  PROPRIETORS, 

FALMOUTH,  MASS. 


TO 

A-     B.     T., 

In  recognition  of  a  highly  es- 
teemed friendship  and  as  a  token 
of  my  most  sincere  regard,  this 
book  is  dedicated,  with  the  best 
wishes  of 

THE    AUTHOR. 

Falmouth,  September  3, 


927232 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 


The   start. — "  Gardner's." — Wequaquet   Lake. — Coleman's 
Island. — A  successful  shot. — Reminiscences. 


CHAPTER  II. 


We  lose  our  dog. — Stalking  a  bunch  of  wild  fowl. — "I  have 
left  the  key  at  home  !  " — A  shot  at  wild  fowl. — I  over- 
sleep.— Black  duck  shooting  over  live  decoys. — Home- 
ward bound. 


CHAPTER   III. 


Again  at  Coleman's  Island. — Camping  out. — Old-time 
ducking  scenes. — Gardner  tells  a  story. — A  sleepless 
night. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

A  shot  by  moonlight. — Our  neighbors  across  the  way. — 
More  ducks. — A  trip  to  Quauk  Island. — A  pair  of  gray 
ducks. — A  shot  at  Teal. — A  big  flock  of  ducks. — An 
exciting  moment. — "Rattled." — Our  neighbors  again. 
— Gull  shooting. — Better  luck. — Farewell  to  Coleman's 
Island. 

CHAPTER  v. 

A  trip  along  the  south  shore. — Stony  Point. — White  wing 
coots. — In  camp. — Our  first  sight  of  ducks. — We  se- 
cure a  shot. — "Tramp." 

CHAFFER  VI. 

Before  the  campfire. — Duck  shooting  by  moonlight. — A 
morning's  sport. — A  lively  chase. — A  game  dinner. — 
A  good  shot. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

We  replenish  our  larder. — A  surprise  party. — What  Billy 
and  I  had  for  supper.— Billy  spins  a  yarn. — The 
strange  story  of  a  wild  goose. — We  secure  ourselves 


CONTENTS. 


against  tramps. — The  storm. — We  kill  an  Indian  goose. 
— The  gale  increases. — Better  weather  at  last. — A  shot 
at  ducks. — Crossing  the  lake  in  a  northwester. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

A  turtle  hunt. — Turtle  lore. — We  start  for  camp. — A  wild 
right  crossing  the  lake. — We  entertain  visitors. — Scien- 
tific duck  shooting. — The  sheldrake  that  "  quacked." 
An  excursion  to  the  mainland. — Repairing  the  camp. 
—Duck  shooting  under  difficulties  — Chasing  cripples. 
— A  trip  to  the  village. — A  battle  with  the  elements. — 
We  reach  camp. — We  prepare  supper. — The  camp 
afire. — We  finally  get  to  sleep  and  awake  to  find  our- 
selves on  an  island.—  A  parting  shot. — Breaking  camp. 
— Conclusion. 


PREFACE. 


It  has  been  said  on  g:>od  authority  that  a  man  will  go 
farther  to  kill  a  duck  than  to  do  anything  else  in  the  world. 
However  true  that  may  be  certain  it  is  that  among  no  class 
of  sportsmen  is  there  to  be  found  greater  ardor  and  enthu- 
siasm than  among  the  duck  shooting  fraternity. 

Of  all  the  duck  species  which  inhabit  the  waters  of  this 
country,  the  black  duck,  Anas  Obscura,  or  black  mallard  as 
it  is  commonly  called  in  the  West,  and  of  which  the  follow- 
ing chapters  principally  tieats,  is  the  hardest  to  circumvent 
and  bring  to  bag.  Of  an  exceedingly  shy  and  wary  dispo- 
sition, made  so  from  the  fact  he  seldom  frequents  deep 
waters  but  is  usually  to  be  found  in  shallow  lakes  and 
streams  in  close  proximity  to  marshes  covered  with  waving 
grass  or  tall  rushes  and  wooded  shores,  whose  projecting 
points  may  at  any  time  conceal  an  enemy,  this  grand  bird 
has  learned  never  to  consider  himself  safe  without  a  long 
reach  of  water  intervening  between  him  and  the  danger- 
lurking  shore. 

The  difficulties  which  attend  his  capture  however  only 


PREFACE. 


serve  to  make  him  the  more  a  prize  to  be  sought  after,  and 
especially  dear  to  the  heart  of  the  eastern  gunner,  to  whom 
he  is  regarded  as  the  most  desirable  of  his  species.  In 
order  therefore  that  his  pursuit  may  be  attended  with  suc- 
cess it  is  necessary  that  the  sportsman  should  use  the  most 
scientific  methods  yet  known  to  the  art  of  wild  fowl  shoot: 
ing,  which  in  the  case  of  the  black  duck  in  eastern  waters 
is  without  doubt  the  use  of  live  decoys. 

Among  the  many  localities  scattered  along  the  entire 
length  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard  where  the  sport  of  duck 
shooting  can  still  be  engaged  with  pleasure  and  profit,  there 
is  probably  no  more  favored  locality  than  Cape  Cod,  whose 
wave-washed  shores  abounding  in  sheltered  coves  and  quiet 
bays,  with  partially  submerged  marshes  extending  far  inland, 
and  flats,  made  bare  by  the  receding  tides,  offer  to  the  wild 
fowl  feeding  grounds  unsurpassed  in  variety  and  abundance, 
while  the  many  lakes  and  ponds  which  lie  snugly  sheltered 
among  the  low  lying  hills  and  uplands  furnish  an  abundant 
supply  of  fresh  water,  a  luxury  which  Anas  Obscura  will  not 
deny  himself  of,  for  any  length  of  time,  he  being  willing  to 
take  extraordinary  risks  after  having  been  deprived  of  his 
bath  for  a  few  days. 

It  was  at  such  a  lake  as  I  have  here  described,  one  of 
the  fairest  among  the  many  lovely  sheets  of  water  that  nes- 
tle deep  among  the  Cape  Cod  hills,  that  in  company  with 
boon  companions  I  was  permitted  to  enjoy  for  several  suc- 
cessive seasons  what  is  to  me  the  sport  par  excellence,  duck 
shooting  over  live  decoys. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


SCIENTIFIC  DUCK  'SHOOTlM)' 

IN   EASTERN   WATERS, 


CHAPTER   I. 


"  These  are  the  tales,  or  new  or  old, 
In  idle  moments  idly  told, 
Flowers  of  the  field  with  petals  thin, 
Lilies  that  neither  toil  nor  spin." 

JT  was  a  warm,  sunny  day  in  October — one  of  those 
bright,  beautiful  days  for  which  our  New  England 
autumns  are  noted.     We  were  sitting  in  the  office, 
looking  wistfully  out  of  the  window  at  the   ever- 
changing  panorama   of    sea    and    sky,    woods  and   fields, 
over    which    the     hush     of     autumn     had     fallen,     and 
wishing    most    of    all    for    a    vacation.      The    office-boy 
came    in    with    the    mail    and,    running     it     over     leis- 
urely, we  noticed  the  familiar  handwriting  of  an  old  friend 
and   sportsman ;  and,  eagerly   opening    the   letter,  it   was 
found  to  contain  an  invitation  to  spend  a  few  days  with  him 
in  camp  at  Coleman's  Island,   for  duck  shooting.     It  did 
not  take  us  long  to  decide,  and  the  next  mail  carried  to  our 
friend  a  glad  acceptance   of  his  kind  invitation ;  and  the 


12  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK    SHOOTING 


following  day  found  us  at  the  Falmouth  station,  on  the 
Woods  Holl  branch  of  the  Old  Colony  Railroad,  laden  with 
guns,  <* munition  -?.n(\  our  light  baggage — for  we  always  travel 
light  whe,n  ,on  a  sp.orting  trip,,  believing  thoroughly  in  the 
sage  advice  .of- 'N^smnok/V  that  we  do  not  go  to  the 
woods  to  rough  it,  but  to  smooth  it,  and  that  an  excess  of 
camp  equipage  is  a  useless  incumbrance.  We  reached 
Buzzards  Bay  shortly  after  eight  o'clock,  and  there  had  to 
wait  nearly  three  hours  for  the  down  train,  which  would 
leave  us  at  West  Barnstable,  from  which  we  would  cross  to 
the  South  Shore  by  stage.  We  reached  Centreville,  our  boy- 
hood's home,  shortly  after  noon  and  not  too  late  for  dinner  ; 
and,  after  spending  the  remainder  of  the  afternoon  in  ramb- 
ling about  the  village  and  looking  up  old  acquaintances, 
found  ourselves  at  Gardner's  store  early  in  the  evening,  that 
being  the  general  rendezvous  for  all  the  sportsmen  in  the 
neighborhood.  Receiving  a  warm  welcome  from  Gardner, 
we  spent  the  evening  with  him,  learning  from  him  that  the 
ducks  were  coming  in  quite  plentifully,  and  that  the  after- 
noon flight  that  day  had  contributed  several  pairs  of  black 
ducks  to  his  already  well-stocked  larder. 

Bidding  us  to  be  on  hand  by  four  o'clock  the  next 
morning,  we  part  for  the  night,  and,  going  to  our  stopping- 
place,  are  soon  asleep  and  dreaming  of  ducks.  The  little 
alarm  clock  at  our  side  awakens  us  with  a  sudden  start  just 
as  we  are  in  the  act  of  making  a  most  extraordinary  shot  at 
an  imaginary  flock  of  black  ducks,  and  springing  to  our 
feet  we  find  it  is  already  growing  light  and  nearly  four 
o'clock ;  so,  hastily  donning  our  shooting  garb  and  making 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  13 

a  raid  on  the  pantry,  we  secure  our  gun  ani  make  our 
exit  into  the  open  air  without  disturbing  the  sleeping  in- 
mates. We  find  the  morning  raw  and  cold,  the  stars  look- 
ing down  at  us  in  a  hazy  sort  of  way,  and  the  wind,  which 
is  slightly  breezing  from  the  northeast,  predicts  a  storm  ; 
but  it  is  good  duck  weather  and  we  tramp  along  in  antici- 
pation of  plenty  of  sport  before  the  morning  is  over,  and 
reaching  Gardner's  house,  find  him  just  in  readiness  to 
start.  So,  whistling  up  the  dog,  a  brown  and  white  shaggy- 
coated  retriever,  we  shoulder  our  guns  and  start  along  the 
turnpike,  reaching  in  a  few  minutes  the  woodland  path 
which  leads  to  the  pond,  the  shores  of  which  we  reach  after 
a  half-hours's  tramp. 

The  water  was  so  low  this  year  that  the  use  of  a  boat 
was  not  necessary  in  order  to  reach  the  island,  as  with  top 
boots  one  could  easily  wade  across  the  narrow  neck  of  land 
separating  the  island  from  the  mainland,  and  by  picking 
out  the  shallow  places,  which  we  are  obliged  to  do  by  feel- 
ing for  tUem  in  the  darkness  with  the  toe  of  our  boot,  we 
succeeded  in  getting  across  dry  and  without  creating  any 
perceptible  noise,  which  at  this  point  was  a  great  desidera- 
tum, being  in  such  close  proximity  to  the  shooting  grounds  ; 
for  the  black  duck  must  be  approached  with  the  utmost 
silence  and  caution,  else  a  startled  quack  and  roar  of  wings 
of  the  frightened  flock  will  be  the  only  reward  of  the  cha- 
grined hunter,  in  place  of  the  successful  shot  and  well- 
earned  bag  of  ducks.  For  this  reason,  if  for  no  other,  in 
black  duck  shooting  it  is  always  desirable  to  camp  near  the 
shooting-grounds,  so  as  to  be  on  hand  in  the  morning,  and 


14  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK   SHOOTING 

to  have  all  arrangements  completed  and  absolute  silence 
reigning  supreme  by  the  first  streaks  of  daylight,  for  by 
that  time  the  birds  are  liable  to  be  moving  and  coming  in, 
if  indeed  they  have  not  already  come  in  during  the  night 
and  are  snugly  ensconced,  with  heads  under  their  wing,  un- 
der the  friendly  shelter  of  some  clump  of  some  lily-pads  or 
water  rushes. 

Owing,  however,  to  the  limited  time  we  had  to  stay 
and  the  press  of  business  that  kept  our  friend  engaged 
evenings,  we  had  departed  from  the  usual  order  of  things  on 
this  occasion,  and  were  spending  our  nights  at  the  village, 
though  on  all  our  visits  since  to  this  celebrated  resort  we 
have  endeavored  to  spend  the  nights  in  camp,  the  results 
of  which  will  appear  in  subsequent  chapters ;  but  we  are 
digressing,  and  will  go  back  and  take  up  the  thread  of  our 
narrative  at  the  point  where,  leaving  the  mainland  behind 
us  and  crossing  the  narrow  neck  only  lightly  submerged  in 
water,  we  found  ourselves  on  Coleman's  Inland  with  the 
light  faintly  breaking  in  the  east. 

Stepping  carefully  up  to  the  shanty  door,  we  unlock 
it  and  procure  a  lantern  and  the  keys  of  the  duck-box,  and 
then,  carefully  replacing  everything  as  we  found  it,  we  step 
noiselessly  along  the  pathway  that  leads  to  the  "stand"  or 
"  blind,"  through  a  network  of  overhanging  branches  and 
bushes  deftly  arranged  to  afford  ample  protection  to  the 
gunner  in  passing  to  and  fro  from  the  "  blind,"  while  at  the 
same  time  it  enables  him  to  note  all  that  is  transpiring  upon 
the  surface  of  the  water  in  front  and  around  him. 

Entering  the  "  stand,"  which  consists  of  a  barricade  of 


IN    EASTERN   WATERS.  15 

pine  trees  built  nearly  to  the  water's  edge,  and  so  deftly 
covered  with  branches  and  bushes  as  to  completely  hide  its 
real  purpose,  the  passer-by  in  a  boat  at  a  distance  of  a  hun- 
dred yards,  or  even  at  fifty,  not  being  able  to  detect  any- 
thing unusual  about  it,  the  portholes  through  which  the 
gunner  shoots  not  showing  a  few  rods  from  the  shore,  and 
the  entire  front  of  the  battery  being  in  exact  keeping  with 
the  surrounding  vegetation.  So  perfect  is  the  deception 
that  in  rowing  a  boat  to  them  in  the  night  it  is  oftentimes 
difficult  to  exactly  locate  your  own  "blind." 

By  the  shaded  light  of  the  lantern's  feeble  rays,  the 
duck-box  is  opened  and  the  decoy  ducks  fettered  (for  all 
shooting  here  is  done  over  live  decoys),  and  while  Andrew 
is  putting  out  the  decoys  we  will  give  you  a  short  descrip- 
tion of  Wequakett  Lake. 

It  is  situated  in  Barnstable  town,  in  the  County  of 
Barnstable,  and  connects  the  villages  of  Centreville  and 
Barnstable.  Its  shores  are  for  the  most  part  heavily 
wooded,  though  there  are  several  good  farms  along  its 
eastern  shore,  where  an  arm  of  the  lake  extends  nearly  to 
the  county  road  ;  notable  among  the  farms  is  that  of  Mr. 
Ambrose  Lewis,  who  owns  several  miles  of  the  lake  shore 
and  has  a  number  of  acres  under  a  high  state  of  cultivation. 
The  lake,  covering  in  extent  an  acreage  of  about  nine 
miles,  is  one  of  the  largest  bodies  of  fresh  water  in  the 
State,  and  is  famed  chiefly  for  being  a  resort  for  black  duck, 
the  most  wary,  gamey  and  highest-prized  of  all  the  birds 
that  visit  New  England  waters.  It  is  one  of  the  loveliest 
sheets  of  water  to  be  found  anywhere,  its  shores  thickly 


1 6  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK    SHOOTING 


studded  with  a  fine  growth  of  pine,  birch  and  maple,  ex- 
tending down  to  a  beautiful  sand  beach,  white  and  shining, 
upon  whose  shores  the  miniature  billows  dance  gaily  under 
a  summer  sun,  or  are  lashed  into  fury  when  driven  before 
the  violence  of  a  northeast  gale  in  autumn,  sending  huge 
breakers,  white-cupped  and  tempestuous,  to  dash  upon  the 
shore  with  a  roar  like  distant  thunder.  The  shore  is  very 
prettily  broken  with  n  any  inlets  and  coves,  and  on  the 
numerous  points  that  extend  out  from  both  sides  of  the 
pond  are  located  the  different  camps  of  the  ducking  clubs, 
notable  among  which  are  the  Annable's  Point,  Stony 
Point,  Bliss'  Point  and  Coleman's  Island,  the  scene  of  our 
present  exploits.  Lying  clo^e  by  and  contiguous  to  the 
lake  are  Quawk  Island  and  Bearse's  Pond,  the  latter  being 
an  excellent  shooting  place  when  the  wind  is  olowing  heavily 
and  it  is  rough  in  the  big  ponds,  the  birds  then  seeking  the 
smaller  ponds  on  account  of  the  better  shelter  afforded.  All 
of  these  ponds  afford  fine  fishing  for  white  and  yellow  perch 
and  pickerel,  and  a  large  number  of  people  visit  them  each 
season  with  good  success.  The  writer  remembers  one  after- 
noon in  the  early  part  of  September,  a  number  of  years  ago, 
when,  in  the  company  of  a  friend,  he  enjoyed  as  fine  fishing 
as  can  be  found  anywhere  in  the  State,  we  having  taken,  in 
a  little  over  an  hour,  over  one  hundred  fish  of  good  size.  If 
"Joe"  should  ever  happen  to  fall  upon  this  he  will  remem- 
ber the  day  and  the  rare  sport  we  had.  Upon  the  northern 
shore  of  the  pond  rises  a  stately  eminence  known  as  Shoot- 
Flying  Hill,  from  the  top  of  which  one  can  command  beau- 
tiful views  of  the  surrounding  country  ;  in  fact,  nearly  the 


IN    EASTERN   WATERS.  I  7 


whole  of  Cape  Cod  is  here  spread  out  to  view,  the  scenes  in 
every  direction  being  fine,  and  seeming  to  please  whichever 
way  you  turn.  Directly  in  the  foreground,  Barnstable  Bay 
stretches  away  for  miles,  its  surface  dotted  with  vessels 
from  all  quarters  of  the  globe  presenting  a  most  pleasing 
and  animating  picture,  while  on  a  clear  day  the  spires  of 
Provincetown,  the  tip  end  of  Yankee-land,  can  be  plainly 
seen.  An  observatory  has  been  erected  upon  the  summit 
of  the  hill  and  a  carriage  road  built  to  it,  so  that  it  is  now 
easy  of  access,  and  all  visitors  to  the  upper  Cape  towns  or 
South  Shore  villages  in  search  of  health,  pleasure  and  recre- 
ation should  not  consider  their  outing  complete  without 
having  made  the  ascent  of  Shoot- Flying  Hill. 

The  Messrs.  Marston  of  Centreville  have  recently  pur- 
chased large  tracts  of  lands  adjoining  these  waters,  and  have 
laid  out  a  road  running  through  the  woods  on  the  eastern 
shore,  which  furnishes  one  of  the  most  delightful  drives  to 
be  found  anywhere  on  Cape  Cod.  These  gentlemen  have 
also  built  a  commodious  boat-house  on  the  southern  shore 
of  the  lake,  and  have  several  fast  yachts  and  a  steam  launch 
there,  the  lake  offering  fine  facilities  for  pleasure  sailing 
and  racing. 

Coleman's  Island  is  owned  by  Mr.  Andrew  B.  Gardner 
of  Centreville,  he  having  purchased  the  entire  property 
several  years  ago.  The  island  is  covered  with  a  sturdy 
growth  of  pine  forest,  and  from  a  scenic  point  of  view  is, 
we  think,  the  finest  location  about  the  lake.  It  is  ac- 
knowledged also  to  be  one  of  the  best  points  from  which  to 
shoot  ducks,  and  fortunate  is  the  sportsman  who  receives 


1 8  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK   SHOOTING 

from  Mr.  Gardner  an  invitation  to  spend  a  few  days  with 
him  at  this  sylvan  retreat. 

But  as  daylight  is  now  fast  approaching,  and  Andrew 
having  placed  the  decoys  to  his  liking  has  returned  to  the 
stand,  we  will  lay  aside  all  further  digression  and  proceed 
at  once  to  the  business  of  the  morning.  We  can  now 
plainly  hear  the  quacking  of  the  decoy  ducks  at  Annable's 
Point  and,  turning  the  glass  in  that  direction,  can  just  make 
out  a  flock  of  ducks  swimming  in  to  the  decoys.  In  a  few 
minutes  they  are  near  enough,  and,  as  they  draw  together, 
a  sheet  of  flame  bursts  from  the  portholes  of  the  "  blind  " 
and  a  moment  later  we  hear  the  report  of  the  guns,  and  by 
the  aid  of  the  glass  can  see  the  occupants  of  the  stand  rush 
out  upon  the  shore  and  send  their  dog  into  the  water  and 
retrieve  the  killed  and  wounded.  The  balance  of  the  flock, 
which  of  course  flew  at  the  report  of  the  guns  are  now.  cir- 
cling high  in  the  air  at  the  farther  end  of  the  lake,  when 
suddenly  four  of  their  number  leave  the  flock  and  wheel  in 
our  direction,  with  the  evident  intention  of  going  into  the 
Sound,  instead  of  back  into  the  bay.  As  they  draw  near 
Gardner  hastily  reaches  for  a  decoy  and  throwing  it  high  in 
the  air  it  alights  by  the  side  of  its  fellows  with  many  a  splash 
and  quack.  It  does  the  business,  for  the  four  wild  ducks 
have  seen  the  decoys  and  come  on  with  a  rush,  seemingly 
having  forgotten  the  danger  from  which  they  have  so  lately 
escaped,  and,  coming  up  side  to  the  wind,  they  drop  easily 
in  among  the  decoys  and  swim  boldly  toward  the  "  blind," 
where  we  lie  concealed.  We  take  our  places  at  the  port- 
holes and,  waiting  for  them  to  draw  together,  Gardner  gives 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  19 

the  word  and  we  fire  simultaneously,  and  rising  quickly  to 
our  feet  see  but  one  duck  in  the  air — and  that  one  going  at 
about  sixty  miles  an  hour,  close  to  the  water  and  already 
fifty  yards  away.  We  sent  the  contents  of  our  remaining 
barrels  after  him  which  serves  no  purpose  except  to  accel- 
erate his  flight,  and  then  turned  and  opened  the  door  of 
the  "  blind  "  at  which  the  faithful  spaniel  is  eagerly  scratch- 
ing, and,  bidding  him  "  Go  fetch  the  birds,"  he  at  once 
swam  boldly  out  and  brought  them  in,  one  at  a  time,  and 
laid  them  at  our  feet  with  a  proud  and  knowing  look  which 
seemed  to  say  '"Have  I  not  done  well?"  As  we  took  them 
up  and  stroked  their  glossy  feathers  we  felt  consoled  for  the 
loss  of  the  one  that  sailed  away  with  an  utter  disregard  for 
the  effectiveness  of  our  breech-loaders,  in  the  possession  of 
the  three  that  remained  with  us. 

It  was  now  light  enough  to  see  all  over  the  lake,  and 
we  began  to  see  ducks  constantly  moving  in  all  directions ; 
but  they  did  not  decoy  well,  as  the  wind  rose  rapidly  when 
the  sun  came  up,  and  we  did  not  get  another  shot  at  black 
ducks  that  morning,  though  we  killed  one  widgeon  and  a 
mackerel  gull,  which  curiously  enough  flew  past  us  and  then 
returned  and  alighted  to  the  decoys.  Whatever  prompted 
him  to  seek  fellowship  with  a  tame  duck  we  do  not  know, 
but  he  paid  dearly  for  his  temerity,  and  his  snow-white 
wing  for  some  time  afterwards  adorned  the  hat  of  a  certain 
young  lady  of  our  acquaintance.  Several  shots  were  fired 
at  Annable's  and  Stony  Point,  but  with  no  great  results — 
at  least,  so  we  judged  from  what  we  were  able  to  observe 
with  the  glass.  But  if  the  shooting  was  dull  there  was 


20  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK    SHOOTING 


enough  else  to  interest  us  in  listening  to  the  anecdotes  of 
Gardner  regarding  former  days  when  decoys  and  breech- 
loaders were  unknown  and  ducks  were  to  be  had  for  the 
asking.  As  the  morning  wore  on  and  the  sky  assumed  a 
more  threatening  aspect,  we  witnessed  a  grand  sight  in  the 
passage  of  an  immense  flock  of  water-fowl,  whistling  coots 
we  judged  them  to  be,  though  they  flew  at  such  a  great 
height  that  we  could  not  determine  for  a  surety  whether 
they  were  whistling  coots  or  white-wings,  though  it  is  prob- 
able that  both  varieties  were  represented.  They  flew 
steadily  for  over  an  hour,  three,  four  and  five  flocks  being 
in  sight  all  the  time.  We  judged  that  nearly  three  thousand 
birds  must  have  passed  over  us  during  the  time  we  stayed 
in  the  stand.  Had  the  wind  been  southeast  instead  of 
northeast  there  would  have  been  some  grand  shooting  on 
the  Centreville  beach,  as  all  outward-bound  birds  pass 
directly  over  the  beach,  following  down  the  course  of  the 
river  till  it  reaches  the  beach  and  then  crossing  over  into 
the  Sound.  It  needs  a  strong  souther  though  to  bring  them 
down  within  gunshot,  and  then  fortunate  is  the  sportsman 
who  finds  himself  in  the  precincts  of  this  sequestered  spot 
on  a  hazy  afternoon  in  October,  with  the  tide  at  half-flood 
on  the  Barnstable  flats  and  rapidly  rising ;  the  cosy  little 
village  in  the  foreground  with  the  dark  and  sluggish  river 
flowing  at  your  feet,  the  sombre  shadows  of  the  pine  forest 
rising  to  the  north,  the  steep,  picturesque  bluffs  on  the 
right  and  the  roar  of  old  ocean  at  your  back,  and  the  cool, 
sweet  incense  of  the  salt  breeze  sweeping  over  the  marsh  as 
the  moist,  damp  spray  is  flung  full  in  your  face  as  some 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS. 


giant  breaker  comes  dashing  in  upon  the  strand,  sending 
huge  volumes  of  yeasty  foam  high  in  air  and  retreating 
again  with  sudden  roar ;  the  excited  motions  and  gestures 
of  the  assembled  gunners  as  they  run  to  and  fro  to  obtain 
the  best  point  of  vantage  in  the  wake  of  the  on-coming 
flocks  of  white-wings  and  whistling  coots,  sheldrakes,  old 
squaws,  mackerel  gulls,  and,  if  it  be  late  in  the  season, 
brant  and  geese,  as  in  rapid  succession  flock  succeeds  flock  ; 
the  cries  of  "  Run  to  the  eastward,"  or  "Run  to  the  west- 
ward,"  as  the  birds  are  first  sighted  far  in  the  distance — 
thin,  wedge-shaped  columns  darkly  defined  against  the 
October  sky,  as  they  move  swiftly  along  with  almost  military 
precision,  now  veering  slightly  to  cne  direction  and  then  to 
another,  thus  giving  to  the  sport  the  constant  element  of 
uncertainty  as  to  where  they  will  pass,  until,  as  they  draw 
near  and  sight  the  broan  waters  of  the  Sound,  they 
straighten  on  their  course  and,  lowering  their  flight,  come 
on  with  a  mighty  rush  of  swiftly  beating  pinions,  while  from 
all  sides  they  are  greeted  with  the  flash  and  roar  of  fowling- 
pieces,  and,  leaving  many  of  their  number  behind,  the  re- 
mainder of  the  flock  are  soon  secure  from  harm  far  out 
upon  the  surface  of  the  broad  Atlantic.  Many  times  in 
years  gone  by  has  the  writer  been  a  participator  in  these 
scenes,  the  recalling  of  which  now  brings  a  pleasure  only 
equalled  by  the  actual  occurences  themselves ;  and  we  call 
to  mind  that  when  but  a  boy  and  not  allowed  to  carry  a 
gun,  it  was  our  chief  delight  to  accompany  our  grandfather 
or  uncles,  all  of  whom  were  keen  sportsmen  and  capital 
shots,  and  who  could  always  be  counted  upon  to  be  on  hand 


SCIENTIFIC   DUCK   SHOOTING 


on  a  fine  flying-day,  and,  snugly  ensconced  among  the  tall 
waving  beach  grass  which  served  as  a  protection  from  the 
cold,  have  lain  for  hours,  an  interested  spectator  of  all  that 
transpired,  our  senses  lulled  into  a  dreamy  contentment 
and  repose,  wooed  by  the  siren  voice  of  the  south  wind. 
Some  noted  shots  used  to  be  present  on  those  days,  many 
of  whom  have  now  laid  aside  the  fowling-piece  forever,  and 
some  of  whom  yet  remain  and  practice  their  old-time  sport 
with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  former  days,  and  who  can  ,  still 
drop  their  doubles  right  and  left,  with  the  same  old-time 
skill  that  used  to  be  our  ever-increasing  wonder  and  ad- 
miration. 

We  watch  the  last  flock  disappear  in  the  distance,  a 
mere  speck  upon  the  horizon,  and  are  reminded  of  the 
poet's  lines  : — 

"  Vainly  the  fowler's  eye  might  mark  thy  distant  flight  to  do  thee  harm, 
As,  darkly  painted  on  the  crimson  sky,  thy  figure  floats  along." 

A  sweeping  glance  with  the  glass  along  the  horizon  and 
across  the  surface  of  the  lake,  revealing  no  ducks,  Gard- 
ner thinks  we  might  as  well  give  it  up  for  this  morning  ;  so 
the  decoys  are  accordingly  taken  in,  everything  is  made 
snug  and  tidy  about  the  stand,  and,  stowing  our  birds  in- 
side the  capacious  pockets  of  our  hunting  coats  and 
whistling  up  the  dog  who  is  contentedly  taking  a  nap  in  the 
corner  of  the  stand,  we  shoulder  our  guns  and  tramp  back 
to  the  village,  picking  up  several  partridges  and  and  squir- 
rels on  our  way  through  the  woods,  arriving  at  the  village 
in  time  for  a  late  breakfast,  which  is  none  the  less  appre- 
ciated by  being  long  delayed. 


CHAPTER    II. 


REAKFAST  being  over  we  dress  the  ducks,  turning 
them  over  to  the  culinary  department  (said  de- 
partment giving  a  good  account  of  itself  later  on), 
and  spend  the  balance  of  the  morning  principally 
in  getting  rested.  At  twelve  o'clock  dinner  is  announced, 
to  which  at  least  one  of  the  party  does  ample  justice, 
stewed  ducks  being  the  bill  of  fare. 

Contrary  to  our  expectations,  the  weather  had  grown 
milder,  the  wind  veering  from  the  northeast  to  the  south- 
west, and  the  angry-looking  clouds  of  the  morning  had 
cleared  away  before  the  brisk  southwester.  The  sun  shone 
clear  and  warm,  and  about  two  o'clock  we  strolled  around 
to  Gardner's 'place  of  business  arid  found  him  all  ready  to 
try  the  afternoon  flight.  A  few  moments  sufficed  to  attend 
to  the  wants  of  several  customers  who  had  just  come  in, 
and  then,  whistling  for  the  dog  and  locking  the  shop  door, 
we  were  ready  to  proceed  ;  but  a  new  difficulty  now  pre- 
sented itself.  The  dog  could  not  be  found,  and  though  we 


24  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK   SHOOTING 


whistled  and  called,  it  was  to  no  purpose  ;  he  failed  to  show 
up,  and  we  were  obliged  to  go  without  him.  It  was  not  so 
bad,  however,  for  Gardner  kept  his  boat  at  the  island,  and 
we  could  retrieve  with  that,  providing  we  killed  any  birds. 

We  enjoyed  the  tramp  through  the  woods,  the  weather 
being  perfect ;  and,  while  we  had  already  been  over  the 
ground  twice  that  day  we  did  not  mind  the  fatigue,  and 
soon  reached  the  shore.  Gaining  the  point,  we  started  to 
walk  across,  when  our  attention  was  attracted  by  a  large 
flock  of  water  fowl  that  had  swuin  in  towards  the  shore  and 
were  now  within  shooting  distance  of  the  margin,  if  we 
could  but  reach  it  without  making  our  presence  known  to 
them.  We  crept  carefully  along  and  gained  the  island, 
which,  with  its  dense  growth  of  underbrush  and  pine  forest, 
afforded  us  sufficient  protection  to  allow  us  to  reach  the  de- 
sired spot  without  being  seen — by  dint  of  much  crawling 
and  worming  ourselves  along — though  it  was  hard  work,  as 
our  path  was  plentifully  strewn  with  briars,  which  protruded 
their  sharp  thorns  into  our  clothing  and  hands  and  even 
into  our  faces  ;  one  giant  and  over-hanging  limb  having  the 
audacity  to  pluck  off  our  hat  and  hold  it  suspended  in  the  air 
where  it  was  found  and  recovered  on  our  return.  But  we 
pushed  bravely  on  amidst  all  obstacles,  till  we  reached  a 
place  from  which  we  could  shoot,  and  then  carefully  raising 
our  heads,  found  that  the  birds  had  taken  alarm  and  swum 
out  beyond  gun-shot. 

This  was  disappointing,  but  there  was  no  help  for  it  so 
we  tramped  back  to  where  we  left  the  path,  and  regaining  it 
soon  reached  the  camp,  or  "•  shanty,"  as  Gardner  termed 


IN    EASTERN   WATERS.  25 


it.  Putting  his  hand  to  his  pocket  for  the  key,  he  turned  to 
us  with  a  look  of  blank  amazement  depicted  on  his  coun- 
tenance, at  the  same  time  ejaculating  <l  I  have  left  the  key 
at  home  !"  Here  was  a  dilemma,  as  Gardner's  favorite 
gun  was  inside,  together  with  the  ammunition  and  oars, 
and  as  the  dog  had  of  necessity  been  left  behind,  we  were 
dependent  entirely  upon  the  boat  for  retrieving — and  that 
would  also  be  worthless  without  the  important  adjunct  of 
oars  and  rowlocks. 

We  were  not  to  be  baffled,  however,  for  inside  that 
shanty  we  must  go,  and  after  surveying  the  situation  for  a 
few  moments  we  decided  that  the  small  window  at  the  end 
of  the  building  was  the  most  vulnerable  point  of  attack ; 
upon  this  we  at  once  made  a  vigorous  sortie,  and  soon  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  our  labors  rewarded  by  the  re- 
moval of  the  entire  window  intact.  The  member  of  the 
company  carrying  the  least  avoirdupois  was  prevailed  upon 
to  crawl  through  the  narrow  aperture  and  produce  the  much- 
required  articles,  which  feat  was  successfully  accomplished 
by  dint  of  much  vigorous  squeezing,  and  having  become 
possessed  of  them  we  proceeded  at  once  to  the  stand  and 
took  a  long  look  over  the  quiet  surface  of  the  lake,  hoping 
to  see  a  bird  or  two. 

The  field-glass  failing  to  show  up  anything  that  looked 
like  ducks,  we  fettered  two  of  the  best  quackers  and  putting 
them  out  in  the  water  at  a  proper  distance  from  each  other 
returned  to  the  stand  to  enjoy  the  fine  landscape  spread 
out  before  us.  It  was  almost  too  warm  and  pleasant  for 
ducks  to  be  about  in  very  large  numbers,  and  we  did  not 


26  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK    SHOOTING 

expect  to  do  a  great  amount  of  shooting,  being  well  content 
to  leisurely  while  away  the  hours  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  the 
calm  and  peaceful  autumnal  scene.  The  decoys,  too, 
seemed  to  imbibe  the  general  listlessness  that  pervaded 
everything,  for  they  soon  tired  of  quacking  to  an  unrespon- 
sive echo,  and  settling  themselves  low  in  the  water,  with 
heads  tucked  under  their  wings,  rode  lightly  at  anchor  with 
a  low,  cooing  sound  of  evident  satisfaction. 

An  hour  or  two  of  constant  scanning  of  the  horizon 
failing  to  bring  into  relief  the  graceful  outlines  of  the  game 
we  sought,  we  at  last  bethought  ourselves  of  the  birds  we 
had  left  in  the  cove,  and  our  companion  volunteered  to  go 
back  to  the  point  from  which  we  had  first  sighted  them  and 
see  if  they  were  still  there.  He  soon  returned  with  the  in- 
formation that  they  were  in  about  the  same  position  as 
when  first  discovered,  and  thought  that  by  taking  the  boat 
we  could  row  to  the  windward  of  them  and  thus  get  near 
enough  for  a  shot. 

We  pushed  out  from  the  shore  with  as  little  noise  as 
possible  and  pulled  up  into  the  bend,  Gardner  at  the  oars, 
and  finally  succeeded  in  getting  to  windward  of  them,  and, 
drifting  down  in  their  direction,  got  within  gunshot  just  as 
they  rose.  Gardner  quickly  dropped  the  oars  and  together 
we  fired,  knocking  out  several  of  the  flock.  They  proved 
to  be  white-winged  coots,  big  fellows  and  in  fine  order,  be- 
ing plump  and  fat.  Securing  our  game  we  hastened  back 
to  the  stand,  and  hauling  the  boat  well  up  out  of  sight  in 
the  bushes  took  up  our  watch  in  the  "blind  "  again  ;  but 
we  were  not  rewarded  with  a  shot,  as  nothing  came  to  us, 


IN    EASTERN   WATERS.  27 

though  we  saw  a  few  circling  about  in  the  air.  While  we 
did  our  best  to  attract  their  attention,  they  seemingly  took 
no  notice  of  us,  and  though  our  decoys  stretched  their 
necks  and  quacked  vociferously,  they  would  not  be  beguiled 
into  making  a  closer  acquaintance,  no  doubt  preferring  the 
wild  freedom  of  their  aeriel  flight  to  the  possible  dangers 
that  might  lurk  about  the  shores  of  Coleman's  Island. 

So,  as  the  sun  was  sinking  behind  the  treetops  that 
skirted  the  western  shore,  we  drove  out  the  ducks  and  let 
them  have  a  bath,  and  after  seeing  them  safely  back  in 
their  quarters  and  having  made  everything  snug  and  tidy, 
we  wended  our  way  to  the  village.  We  separated  at  An- 
drew's shop,  agreeing  to  be  on  hand  at  four  o'clock  the 
next  morning. 

Somehow  we  overslept  on  this  particular  morning, 
awakening  to  find  it  considerably  past  the  hour  agreed 
upon.  We  tumbled  into  our  clothes  as  lively  as  we  knew 
how,  and  were  soon  out  in  the  open  air  and  headed  for  the 
appointed  rendezvous,  which  we  reached  only  to  have  our 
suspicions  confirmed,  that  our  friend,  fearing  we  would  not 
show  up  till  too  late  for  the  early  morning  flight,  had  gone 
on  without  us.  He  had  taken  the  precaution,  however,  to 
place  our  guns  outside  and  standing  against  the  door,  where 
we  would  be  sure  to  find  them  if  we  came  along.  Seizing 
them  we  hastened  on  in  the  direction  we  knew  he  had  taken, 
hoping  to  overtake  him  before  he  reached  the  lake  j  but 
he  had  too  much  start,  and  after  floundering  around 
amongst  the  wet  underbrush,  sometimes  in  the  path  and 
again  out  of  it,  and  thumping  against  trees  and  overhanging 


SCIENTIFIC   DUCK   SHOOTING 


branches,  stepping  into  holes  and  winding  ourselves  up  in 
green  briars — for  it  was  intensely  dark  in  the  woods — we 
finally  came  out  upon  the  lake  shore,  and  with  a  little  diffi- 
culty found  the  path  that  led  onto  the  island  and  entered 
the  stand  about  fifteen  minutes  behind  Gardner,  and  just 
as  daylight  was  breaking  in  the  east. 

The  decoys  were  out  and  doing  nicely,  and  as  soon  as 
it  was  light  enough  to  see  with  the  glass  we  took  a  careful 
look  around  the  lake  and  discovered,  about  a  hundred 
yards  distant,  what  appeared  to  be  a  small  bunch  of  ducks, 
though  we  could  not  tell  for  a  certainty,  as  the  appearance 
of  the  water  is  very  deceptive  early  in  the  morning,  and 
what  we  have  often  taken  for  a  bunch  of  ducks  has  proved 
to  be  only  the  edge  of  a  wave  suddenly  imbued  with  seem- 
ing life  by  the  momentary  shadows  that  are  occasionally 
thrown  across  it ;  and  again  we  have  been  startled  to  see 
what  but  a  moment  before  appeared  to  be  but  a  patch  of 
black  water  suddenly  start  and  set  in  towards  us  with  all  the 
grace  and  symmetry  that  is  to  be  found  only  in  the  move- 
ments of  the  wild  duck.  But  there  is  no  deception  this 
time,  as  the  dark  and  shadowy  outline  moves  nearer  and 
takes  definite  shape.  The  ducks,  for  such  they  proved  to 
be,  having  satisfied  their  curiosity,  now  swim  boldly  in  to- 
wards the  decoys,  and  are  in  a  few  minutes  near  enough  to 
shoot. 

We  take  our  respective  places  and  are  chagrined  to 
find  that  we  cannot  see  our  sights,  the  light  being  insuffic- 
ient as  yet,  owing  to  the  heavy  mass  of  foliage  behind  us ; 
and  as  we  dare  not  risk  a  shot  under  these  circumstances, 


IN    EASTERN   WATERS.  29 

knowing  full  well  that  we  should  be  almost  certain  to  over- 
shoot, we  are  obliged  to  content  ourselves  with  watching 
their  movements  and  waiting  for  daylight.  There  was  but 
little  danger  of  the  ducks  leaving  as  long  as  we  made  no 
noise,  so  we  settled  down  to  wait  and  curb  our  impatience. 

We  remained  thus  for  several  minutes,  when  a  sudden 
movement  on  the  part  of  the  retriever,  who  lay  snugly  en- 
sconced at  our  feet,  caused  us  to  look  quickly  out  through 
the  port-holes,  when  we  discovered  to  our  dismay  that  the 
birds  had  suddenly  taken  alarm  and  were  swimming  rap- 
idly away.  Thrusting  our  gun  barrels  through  the  narrow 
apertures  in  the  "blind,"  we  had  the  satisfaction  of  finding 
that  the  sights  showed  plain  and  true,  and  at  a  quick 
signal  from  our  companion  we  fired  simultaneously  and 
stopped  five  of  the  fleeing  birds,  two  of  which  required  the 
services  of  the  second  barrel  before  they  were  dead  ducks. 
As  there  were  only  seven  in  the  bunch  we  had  shot  well 
and  had  no  reason  to  complain  ;  for  we  know  of  nothing 
better  calculated  to  try  the  skill  and  rattle  the  nerves  of 
the  most  experienced  duck-shot  than  this  shooting  at  swim- 
ming birds  from  a  "blind,"  in  the  uncertain  light  of  early 
morning,  and  we  have  yet  to  see  the  man  proficient  enough 
in  the  art  to  account  himself  a  dead  shot  under  these  cir- 
cumstances. 

Grand  and  glorious  the  sport  is — black  duck  shooting- 
over  live  decoys — a  sport  which,  in  the  skill  and  science 
and  amount  of  patient  toil  involved,  together  with  the 
necessary  amount  of  hardships  that  must  be  encountered  in 
order  to  circumvent  the  natural  instincts  of  this  the  most 


30  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK    SHOOTING 

wary  of  all  the  duck  species  ;  the  weary  hours  of  watching 
and  waiting,  amid  storm  and  cold,  calling  for  extreme  forti- 
tude and  the  most  hardy  requisites  of  the  sportsman  ;  the 
uncertainty  which  always  attaches  to  the  obtaining  of  a  favor- 
able shot,  even  after  the  utmost  skill  has  been  exercised  on 
the  part  of  the  hunter  ;  and  again  on  the  other  hand  the 
fact  of  being  brought  face  to  face  with  nature  in  her  utmost 
solitudes,  in  all  her  most  variable  moods  ;  the  ever-chang- 
ing panorama  of  sea  and  sky,  of  lake  and  stream  and  marsh 
and  forest,  crowned  hill  and  shore,  the  glorious  daybreak 
and  the  gorgeous  sunset,  followed  by  the  calm,  clear  and 
serene  moon-lit  evenings,  during  which  some  of  the  very 
best  shooting  is  to  be  had, — these  and  a  thousand  other 
things  that  go  towards  making  a  successful  day's  duck 
shooting,  all  combine  to  form  what,  to  our  minds,  is  the  par 
excellence  of  field  sport,  a  sport  that  is  by  no  means  to 
be  measured  by  the  amount  of  game  bagged. 

We  retrieve  our  game  and  admire  the  contour  of  their 
graceful  forms,  the  outstretched  neck  and  small,  finely- 
shaped  head  that  is  such  a  certain  mark  of  their  identity 
when  in  flight,  at  once  distinguishing  them  from  any  other 
species  when  first  brought  within  the  range  of  vision,  a  mere 
speck  upon  the  horizon's  verge,  the  delicate  bluish-green 
markings  of  the  wing-coverts  and  soft  shading  colors  of  the 
mottled  breast,  and  almost  feel  some  compunctions  of  con- 
science at  having  deprived  of  life  such  beautiful  creatures  ; 
but  the  feelings  of  a  sportsman  are  transcendent  over  all 
others,  and  we  put  the  birds  aside  and  again  take  our  re- 
spective positions  in  the  "  blind  "  with  field-glass  in  hand, 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  31 

noting  each  flock  as  it  appears,  now  seeming  to  advance, 
and  again  circling  wide,  and  finally  disappearing  attogther. 

An  occasional  puff  of  smoke  is  seen,  followed  by  a 
sullen  boom  borne  across  the  water  from  the  direction  of 
our  neighbor's  stand,  telling  us  in  unmistakable  terms  that 
they  are  '  'in  it,"  and  as  roar  succeeds  roar  we  know  that 
they  are  having  a  jolly  time.  Soon  we  sight  a  pair  of  ducks 
coming  directly  towards  us,  and  though  our  rivals  try  hard 
to  turn  them,  by  throwing  decoy  after  decoy,  they  will  not 
be  persuaded  but  come  steadily  on  and  drop  right  in  among 
our  decoys  ;  we  wait  for  a  few  moments  to  allow  them  to 
separate  from  the  decoys  and  to  get  at  a  sufficient  distance 
from  them  to  enable  us  to  shoot  without  killing  our  own 
birds,  and  then,  they  having  swam  to  Gardner's  sUe  of  the 
"  blind,"  making  it  difficult  for  us  to  obtain  a  fair  shot,  we 
give  him  the  word  and  he  fires,  killing  them  both. 

The  sun  has  now  risen,  throwing  its  warm  rays  over  the 
chill  autumnal  scene,  and  we  are  grateful  for  its  benign 
rays  ;  for  it  is  decidedly  cool  in  the  stand,  the  ground  beneath, 
us  being  damp,  and  our  scant  quarters  affording  us  but  little 
room  for  exercise.  We  wait  patiently,  but  in  vain,  for 
another  shot,  and  as  the  morning  is  now  pretty  well  ad- 
vanced and  the  quail  and  partridge  gunners  in  the  woods 
are  getting  rather  noisy,  shot  after  shot  following  each  other 
in  quick  succession,  we  conclude  to  take  in  the  decoys  and 
leave  the  field  clear  for  our  neighbors  across  the  way,  as  our 
chance  for  another  shot  this  morning  is  well-nigh  hopeless, 
owing  to  the  lateness  of  the  hour  and  the  noise  that  is  go- 
ing on  in  the  woods  on  our  side  of  the  lake.  So  the  rou- 


32  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK   SHOOTING 

tine  of  snugging  up  the  camp  is  once  more  gone  through 
with,  and  we  wend  our  way  back  to  the  village  again,  not 
without  some  feelings  of  regret ;  for  this  is  our  last  morning 
at  the  lake,  and  we  have  had  a  pleasant  trip.  We  part  with 
our  friend  at  his  shop  door,  and  having  attended  to  the 
packing  of  our  luggage  and  said  good  bye  all  around,  we 
are  soon  speeding  away  towards  home,  having  accepted  an 
invitation  to  come  again  next  year. 


CHAPTER  III. 


a  YEAR  elapsed  before  we  saw  Coieman's  Island 
again,  when  one  bright,  beautiful  day  in  October,  a 
letter  came  from  Gardner  saying  that  the  next 
(^ — ^  week  he  should  be  at  liberty,  and  that  he  pro- 
posed putting  in  the  whole  week  in  camp,  and  invited  us  to 
join  him.  So,  hastily  arranging  matters,  we  left  on  the  next 
day  and  arrived  at  West  Barnstable  early  in  the  evening,  in 
a  drizzling  rainstorm.  Hunting  up  the  Centreville  stage 
and  driver  we  were  soon  on  our  way  across  the  Cape.  The 
rain  continued  to  pour  steadily,  and  the  night  settling  down 
black  as  ink  made  our  progress  necessarily  slow,  as  the 
roads  were  muddy  and  sticky,  and  in  some  places  badly 
gullied. 

We  plied  the  driver  with  questions  in  regard  to  the 
shooting,  and  found  that  he  was  receiving  ducks  daily  from 
different  camps,  to  be  sent  by  express  to  absent  members  of 
the  several  ducking  clubs  located  at  Wequakett  Lake. 
This  augured  well,  for  we  knew  that  if  a  flight  was  on,  Coie- 
man's Island  was  sure  to  come  in  for  a  share  ;  and  our 


34  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK   SHOOTING 

spirits  rose  accordingly  with  each  mile  that  lessened  the 
distance  between  the  coach  and  our  destination.  At  last 
the  stage  rolled  into  the  village  and  drew  up  at  the  post- 
office  at  precisely  eight  o'clock,  and  on  getting  out  we 
found  that  the  rain  had  about  ceased,  though  the  darkness 
was  still  dense.  Making  our  way  to  Gardner's  shop  we  re- 
ceived a  hearty  welcome  from  as  jolly  and  hearty  a  crowd 
of  sportsmen  as  ever  gathered  of  an  evening  to  "  swap 
lies  "  and  recount  old-time  experiences. 

After  getting  thoroughly  warmed  around  the  glowing 
stove,  which  from  its  cavernous  depths  was  throwing  out  its 
grateful  warmth  in  immense  volumes  of  heat,  Gardner  re- 
marked that  as  there  were  no  ducks  at  Coleman's  Island 
that  morning  it  was  sure  to  be  our  turn  to-morrow. 

The  camp  had  been  put  in  thorough  readiness  and 
was  well  provisioned,  we  having  sent  down  a  good-sized 
box  of  canned  goods,  pickles,  coffee  and  other  necessaries, 
as  well  as  luxuries,  of  camp  life  the  day  before,  which  our 
friend  had  transferred  to  camp  that  day.  The  only  time 
that  we  are  really  hungry  is  when  in  camp,  and  we  believe 
in  having  enough  to  eat  then.  We  concluded  after  a  chat 
to  go  into  camp  that  night,  and  avoid  the  early  start  we 
should  be  compelled  to  make  the  next  morning.  Be- 
sides the  weather  might  not  be  any  better  if  we  waited, 
and  once  there  we  could  defy  the  storm  or  wind,  and  be  on 
the  spot  if  the  ducks  came. 

Accordingly,  we  made  ready  to  start,  first  tucking  our 
trousers  inside  our  stockings  and  drawing  our  rubber  over- 
shoes well  up  around  our  ankles  to  protect  us  from  the  wet 


IN    EASTERN   WATERS.  35 

and  dripping  underbrush,  for  Andrew  was  a  veterrn  soldier, 
and  knew  how  to  keep  dry  feet  on  a  march.  Then,  turn- 
ing the  care  of  the  shop  over  to  his  eldest  son,  we  started 
on  the  most  wet  and  darksome  tramp  through  the  woods 
that  it  has  ever  been  our  lot  to  experience.  The  dog  led 
the  way,  Andrew  followed  with  a  lantern,  while  we  brought 
up  the  rear,  loaded  with  gripsack,  ammunition-case  and 
gun,  which,  as  we  struggled  and  floundered  along  through 
the  woods,  vainly  endeavoring  to  keep  the  path,  momenta- 
rily grew  heavier,  until  by  the  time  half  the  distance  had 
been  traveled,  the  weight  we  were  carrying  seemed  to  have 
increased  to  nearly  a  ton.  Had  not  all  been  articles  well- 
nigh  indispensable  to  a  man  bound  on  a  week's  cruise  after 
ducks,  we  doubt  not  that  they  would  have  all  been  uncere- 
moniously thrown  into  the  woods  so  great  had  the  burden 
become  ;  but  we  reached  the  camp  at  last  without  accident 
or  incident,  other  than  those  already  mentioned,  with  the 
exception,  perhaps,  of  a  pair  of  lame  ankles  and  well-blis- 
tered hands. 

Getting  inside  the  shanty  we  at  once  proceeded  to  di- 
vest ourselves  of  all  superfluities,  and  pile  our  luggage  in  a 
heap  in  one  corner  of  the  room.  Gardner  filled  the  oil  stove, 
and  lighting  it,  we  soon  had  light  and  heat  sufficient  for  our 
frugal  needs.  We  prepared  the  coffee  and  breaking  into 
the  stores  produced  a  can  of  tongue  and  a  loaf  of  bread. 

By  this  time  the  coffee  was  steaming  hot,  and  as  our 
long  walk  had  sharpened  our  appetittes,  we  at  once  fell  to 
and  proceeded  to  demolish  everything  but  the  dishes, 
which  we  carried  to  the  lake  shore  and  thoroughly  washed, 


36  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK    SHOOTING 

so  as  to  have  them  ready  for  use  the  next  morning.  This 
duty  attended  to,  we  unpacked  and  put  together  our  guns, 
overhauled  our  ammunition,  and  put  both  where  they  would 
be  safe  and  at  the  same  time  easy  of  access ;  then  we 
each  picked  the  most  comfortable  seat  we  could  find,  and, 
lighting  a  cigar,  proceeded  to  enjoy  the  greatest  of  camp 
luxuries,  the  evening  smoke. 

Neither  of  us  felt  in  the  least  sleepy,  so  we  sat  for 
nearly  two  hours  smoking  and  spinning  yarns.  Gardner  re- 
lated his  first  experience  in  shooting  ducks  at  the  lake, 
when  but  a  lad  of  ten  years.  It  was  before  the  days  of 
breech-loaders  and  live  decoys,  when  there  were  a  hundred 
ducks  where  there  is  now  one,  and  before  any  of  the  pres- 
ent camps  had  been  built.  It  was  no  uncommon  sight 
then  to  see  several  hundred  ducks  in  the  lake  at  one  time. 
By  crawling  out  to  the  end  of  any  projecting  point  and  ly- 
ing concealed  in  the  bushes,  one  would  be  almost  certain 
to  secure  a  good  shot. 

Annable's  Point  was  then,  as  it  is  now,  considered  the 
best  location,  and  to  this  point  the  senior  Mr.  Gardner,  or 
" Uncle"  Gardner,  as  the  boys  used  affectionately  to  call 
him  (for  he  was  known  and  liked  by  every  boy  for  miles 
around,  always  having  a  kind  word  for  them  and  a  never- 
failing  stock  of  stories,  which  he  ever  delighted  in  relating 
to  them,  in  the  dryest  and  most  humorous  style  imaginable, 
at  once  winning  their  confidence,)  to  this  point  "Uncle" 
Gardner  and  several  other  noted  shots  were  wont  to  repair 
at  early  morn  or  just  at  dusk,  accompanied  by  a  water 
spaniel  trained  to  run  up  and  down  the  shore  by  repeatedly 


IN    EASTERN   WATERS.  37 

throwing  a  stick  for  him  to  bring,  repeating  the  process  as 
fast  as  the  stick  was  retrieved.  By  these  manoeuvres  the 
attention  of  the  ducks  would  be  attracted  towards  the 
shore,  the  entire  flock  at  times  swimming  in  within  easy 
gunshot,  intent  on  watching  the  movements  of  the  dog,  and 
at  a  given  signal  the  concealed  hunters  would  pour  in  a 
deadly  fire,  and  this  process  could  be  repeated  several 
times,  thus  making  it  no  unusual  thing  for  a  hunter  and  his 
dog  to  bag  forty  or  fifty  ducks  of  a  morning. 

Of  course  that  is  all  changed  now,  the  ever  decreasing 
number  of  ducks  being  caused  by  the  rapid  settling  up  of 
territories  that  were  once  wild  and  offered  complete  pro- 
tection to  myriads  of  wild  fowl,  together  with  the  constantly 
increasing  army  of  gunners  where  once  but  a  few  engaged 
in  the  sport.  The  use  of  live  decoys  also,  which  in  the 
last  few  years  has  entirely  supplanted  the  old-fashioned 
method  of  tolling  with  a  dog,  has  made  the  ducks  so  shy 
that  we  doubt  if  a  flock  could  now  be  successfully  decoyed 
in  Wequakett  Lake  by  the  old-fashioned  methods.  These 
facts,  coupled  with  the  immense  superiority  of  the  modern 
breech-loader  over  the  clumsy  and  uncertain  flint-lock  and 
percussion-cap  musket  of  our  fathers,  the  breech-loader 
now  being  in  active  use  all  over  the  country,  the  ducks  are 
never  out  of  earshot  of  their  death-dealing  notes  from  the 
time  they  leave  their  breeding  places  in  the  north  until  they 
rest  their  tired  pinions  in  the  everglades  of  the  south  at  the 
close  of  their  long  and  harrassed  flight,  their  ranks  sadly 
thinned.  All  this  has  tended  to  greatly  diminish  the  sport 
of  duck  shooting,  and  we  shall  never  again  see  on  this  con- 


38  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK   SHOOTING 

tinent  the  magnificent  sport  that  lay  at  our  very  doors  but  a 
short  generation  ago. 

It  was  upon  such  a  morning  as  we  have  just  described 
that  our  friend,  in  the  full  pride  and  consciousness  of 
possessing  his  first  gun,  a  queen's-arm  musket  which  re- 
quired all  his  strength  to  bring  to  his  shoulder,  sallied  out 
in  company  with  his  father  and  a  neighbor — also  a  noted 
shot — to  take  his  first  lesson  in  duck  shooting. 

As  the  party  neared  the  long,  narrow  and  heavily- 
wooded  point  of  land  known  as  Annable's  Point,  where 
now  is  located  the  fine  camp  of  the  Brockton  Club,  they 
discovered  through  an  opening  in  the  trees  an  immense 
flock  of  black  ducks,  quietly  feeding  within  easy  gunshot  of 
the  shore. 

The  utmost  caution  was  now  necessary  in  order  to  ap- 
proach the  birds  without  giving  an  alarm,  and  accordingly 
the  hunters  dropped  on  their  hands  and  knees,  crawling 
along  through  the  bushes  towards  the  end  of  the  point,  our 
friend  bringing  up  the  rear  of  the  procession,  with  the 
neighbor  before  mentioned  just  ahead. 

Gardner  in  his  excitement  had  brought  his  gun  to  full 
cock,  and  unmindful  of  what  he  was  about  was  pushing  the 
gun  along  in  front  of  him,  with  the  muzzle  within  a  few 
inches  of  his  companion's  head,  when  the  latter,  suddenly 
turning,  found  himself  looking  into  the  deadly  tube  of  the 
old  musket.  This  raised  the  old  man's  dander,  and. 
bringing  his  arm  around,  he  dealt  our  young  sportsman  a 
stnnning  blow  that  knocked  the  offending  gun  completely 
out  of  his  hands  and  sent  him  reeling  into  the  bushes. 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  39 


Gathering  himself  together  as  fast  as  his  scattered 
senses  would  permit,  he  hurried  on  after  the  others,  taking 
care  to  carry  his  gun  where  it  would  be  a  little  less  likely 
to  do  damage  in  case  it  was  accidently  discharged,  and 
reached  the  shore  in  time  to  take  a  hand  in  shooting  at  the 
ducks,  which  fortunately  had  not  changed  their  position. 
As  the  smoke  of  the  three  guns  cleared  away,  it  disclosed 
to  the  gaze  of  the  happy  hunters  nearly  twenty  dead  and 
wounded  ducks. 

Gardner  has  stalked  and  decoyed  many  a  flock  of 
ducks  since  that  eventful  mornir.g,  and  made  many  a  suc- 
cessful shot ; — but  never,  we  are  assured,  nas  he  experienced 
more  pleasure  than  on  the  morning  of  that  first  memorable 
duck  hunt,  when,  in  proud  possession  of  his  first  gun,  he 
participated  in  making  a.  most  successful  shot,  and  learned 
one  of  the  most  valuable  lessons  in  sportsmanship, — one 
that  ought  to  be  vigorously  impressed  on  the  minds  of  all 
youthful  gunners,  as  well  as  those  of  more  mature  age  and 
experience, — never,  under  any  conditions  whatever,  to  allow 
a  loaded  gun  to  endanger  the  life  of  a  companion. 

As  Gardner  finished  his  story,  which  had  been  closely 
listened  to  throughout,  we  noticed  that  it  was  beginning  to 
grow  chilly,  and  as  the  fire  was  getting  low  and  our  cigars 
had  burned  out,  we  consulted  our  watches,  and  finding  it 
nearly  twelve  o'clock  concluded  it  was  about  bedtime ;  so, 
extinguishing  the  fire  and  light,  we  sought  our  rude  but 
comfortable  bunks,  and  proposed  to  woo  the  drowsy  god, 
as  we  had  to  turn  out  early  in  the  morning. 

Although  we  tried  our  best,  sleep   fled   from  our  eye- 


40  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK   SHOOTING 

lids,  so  unaccustomed  were  we  to  the  strangeness  of  our 
surroundings  ;  and  finally  we  gave  up  in  despair  all  hopes 
of  obtaining  sleep  that  night,  and  lay  awake  chatting  and 
telling  stories. 

The  wind  continued  to  blow,  and  seemingly  showed 
no  signs  of  abating,  which  disturbed  us  considerably,  as, 
from  the  quarter  it  was  now  blowing,  it  would  deprive  us  of 
a  lee  shore,  which  is  indispensable  to  the  decoying  of  ducks 
in  rough  weather.  We  knew  if  the  wind  did  not  abate  by 
four  o'clock  our  chances  for  a  shot  would  be  greatly  dimin- 
ished ;  but  we  hoped  for  the  best,  and  while  the  wind 
roared  and  shook  the  frail  shanty,  causing  our  rude  bed  to 
rock  and  sway,  we  lay  and  listened  to  the  mournful  sough- 
ing among  the  pine  tree-tops,  which  ever  and  anon  would 
sweep  across  our  roof,  producing  a  sound  such  as  we  might 
fancy  would  be  the  result  if  the  entire  roof  was  being 
stripped  off.  As  the  violence  of  each  succeeding  gust 
passed  away,  we  could  hear  during  the  lull  that  followed, 
the  lisping  music  of  the  waves  as  they  rolled  in  upon  the 
shore  but  a  short  distance  from  us. 

Finally,  as  the  night  wore  away,  the  violence  of  the 
wind  abated  and  it  grew  colder. 

By  that  time  the  little  alarm  clock  at  our  side  rung  out 
its  warning  note,  telling  us  that  it  was  time  to  be  stirring  if 
we  wanted  any  ducks,  and  we  were  not  slow  to  obey  the 
call.  Hastily  dressing,  we  soon  had  a  good  fire  going  and 
the  coffee-pot  merrily  singing  on  the  stove. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


CUP  of  hot  coffee  helped  to  impart  a  grateful 
warmth  to  our  bodies,  and  then  carefully  extin- 
guishing  the  light,  with  guns  in  hand  we  stole 
quietly  out  into  the  open  air.  We  found  the 
weather  to  be  clearing  rapidly,  the  moon  already  shining 
plainly  from  out  the  fleecy  patches  of  gray  clouds  scudding 
before  the  wind.  The  stars  directly  over-head  were  twinkl- 
ing merrily,  although  those  down  near  the  horizon's  verge 
were  beginning  to  grow  faint  as  the  dull  red  lines  stretching 
along  the  eastern  sky  heralded  the  approach  of  day.  Once 
fairly  outside  the  shanty  and  away  from  the  protecting  lee 
afforded  by  the  pine  woods,  we  began  to  realize  that  it  was 
really  cold.  As  we  reached  the  stand  and  confronted  the 
keen  north  wind  sweeping  down  the  lake,  our  teeth  com- 
menced to  chatter  and  we  had  to  resort  to  violent  exercise 
to  get  warm. 

The  surf  was  pounding  angrily  on  the  shore  as  we  put 
out  the  decoys,  the  spray  breaking  so  high  in  air  that  we  had 
serious  misgivings  as  to  whether  ducks  would  alight  there 
or  not,  and  as  to  whether  we  could  soon  attract  their  atten- 
tion with  the  decoys.  As  a  dernier  ressort  we  placed  two 
decoys  in  the  cove  on  the  back  side  and  to  the  leeward  of 


42  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK   SHOOTING 

the  island,  hoping  in  this  way  to  be  able  to  stop  some  pass- 
ing flock  in  the  smoother  waters  of  the  cove,  and  then  by  a 
judicious  throwing  of  decoy  ducks  from  the  stand,  contrive 
to  entice  them  to  swim  within  gunshot.  We  had  no  sooner 
completed  this  task  and  hastened  to  the  stand  snugly 
ensconcing  ourselves  in  the  warmest  corner  we  could  fund, 
than  the  wisdom  of  the  move  became  apparent ;  for,  with 
no  other  warning  rhan  a  flutter  of  wings,  a  bunch  of  fine 
black  ducks  flew  over  our  heads,  having  passed  directly 
over  the  decoys  in  front  of  the  stand  without  stopping,  and 
sweeping  into  the  bend  caught  sight  of  the  two  decoys 
stationed  in  the  rear  of  the  island  ;  they  quacked  lustily  at 
the  new  comers,  and  after  making  a  few  circles  the  entire 
ibunch  set  their  wings  and  dropped  down  to  the  decoys. 

It  was  as  yet  quite  dark  on  that  side  of  the  island,  and 
we  hesitated  before  risking  a  shot,  as  in  the  rough  water 
they  presented  a  small  mark,  and  besides  they  were  so  mix- 
ed up  that  it  was  next  to  impossible  to  tell  the  wild  dpcks 
from  the  tame  ones.  As  we  did  not  wish  to  kill  or  wound 
the  decoys,  we  held  our  fire  for  a  few  moments,  hoping  the 
moon,  which  was  hidden  behind  a  cloud  would  show  itself 
long  enough  to  enable  us  to  make  the  shot  with  some 
degree  of  certainty ;  and  in  this  we  were  not  dissapointed, 
for  in  a  few  mements  the  clouds  broke  away  and  the  moon 
shone  out  with  its  accustomed  autmnal  brilliancy,  throwing 
a  silvery  sheen  of  light  upon  the  very  spot  where  the  ducks 
were  quietly  floating  and  swimming  about  in  short  circles, 
the  tame  ones  issuing  from  time  to  time  low  notes  of  wel- 
come that  seemed  to  keep  their  wild  visitors  contented  and 


IN    EASTERN   WATERS.  43 


from  flying  away.  We  watched  our  opportunity,  and  as 
they  swam  leisurely  about  they  suddenly  became  separated 
from  the  decoys,  and  drawing  together  presented  a  fine 
shot.  We  threw  our  guns  quickly  to  our  shoulders,  and  as 
the  full  moon  threw  its  rays  along  the  polished  barrels  glis- 
tening with  frost,  we  fired  together  and  had  the  good  luck 
of  stopping  them  all.  Gardner  had  the  boat  ready  in  a 
moment  and  quickly  retrieved  the  birds,  only  one  of  which 
required  the  services  of  the  second  barrel  in  order  to  be  a 
dead  duck. 

The  wind  having  now  somewhat  abated  we  turned  our 
attention  to  the  front  part  of  the  stand,  and  with  the  aid  of 
the  glass  could  make  out ' several  flocks  in  the  vicinity  of 
Annable's  Point,  and  soon  one  flock,  more  confiding  than 
the  others,  swam  boldly  in  and  paid  dearly  for  their  temer- 
ity in  the  sadly  decimated  numbers  with  which  they  re- 
treated before  the  deadly  fire  of  the  concealed  breech- 
loaders ;  and  circling  high  in  air,  the  remainder  of  the  flock 
started  for  the  more  congenial  climate  of  the  south.  As 
they  passed  directly  over  our  heads  we  could  not  forbear 
giving  them  a  parting  shot,  though  they  were  obviously  out 
of  reach  ;  and  while  we  could  not  prevail  upon  them  to 
stop  with  us  in  answer  to  our  leaden  salute,  we  did  at  least 
contribute  to  accelerating  their  speed  towards  the  rice 
swamps  of  South  Carolina. 

Things  quieted  down  now  for  a  half-hour  or  so,  and 
then  the  ball  opened  again,  we  leading  off  with  a  pair 
which  we  neatly  dropped  just  as  they  were  fluttering  over 
the  decoys  and  about  to  alight ;  while  the  guns  at  Stony 


44  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK    SHOOTING 

Point,  which  so  far  this  morning  had  not  been  heard  from, 
now  began  to  bellow  and  roar  death  and  destruction  to 
everything  that  came  along  in  the  shape  of  a  duck. 

It  always  used  to  do  us  good  to  see  them  shoot  at 
Stony  Point — almost  as  much  as  it  did  to  get  the  shot  our- 
selves. We  did  not  claim  the  honor  of  being  acquainted 
with  any  of  the  gentlemen  who  composed  the  Rockland 
Club,  and  who  controlled  and  camped  on  this  lonely  point 
for  many  years  ;  but  whoever  they  were  they  had  the  science 
of  duck-shooting  down  fine,  and  shot  with  an  abandon  and 
skill,  as  well  as  almost  military  precision,  that  was  charm- 
ing to  behold,  and  assured  for  them  a  lasting  place  in 
that  great  duck-shooting  fraternity  who  are  born,  not  made. 

Annable  Point  is  also  alive  to  what  is  going  on,  as  flash 
after  flash,  succeeded  by  roar  on  roar,  testifies ;  and  we  will 
guarantee  the  Brockton  boys  are  having  their  share  of  the 
fun,  for  the  wind  is  in  their  favor  and  the  ducks  always  did 
have  a  tender  regard  for  Annable's.  We  get  another  pair, 
and  then  the  shooting  stops,  and  is  over  as  quickly  as  it 
commenced  ;  and  after  thrashing  our  fingers  awhile  in  order 
to  thaw  them  out, — for  the  dashing  spray  is  cold  as  ice. — 
we  take  in  the  decoys,  and  getting  inside  the  shanty  have  a 
fire  started  in  less  time  than  it  takes  to  tell  it,  and  as  soon 
as  the  coffee  is  hot  make  an  onslaught  upon  the  provisions 
that  threatens  to  cut  short  the  camping  trip  by  several  days, 
unless  our  appetites  meet  with  a  sudden  change  before  the 
week  is  out. 

\\hile  we  were  eating  breakfast  we  were  joined  by 
Gardner's  eldest  son,  Will,  who  spent  the  day  with  us.  In 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  45 


the  afternoon  we  took  the  boat  and  dog  and  went  over  to 
Quauk  Island,  in  the  hope  of  starting  a  fox  or  rabbit ;  but 
in  this  we  did  not  succeed,  and  coming  back  to  camp 
about  four  o'clock,  where  we  had  left  Gardner,  found  that 
he  had  gone  up  to  the  village,  leaving  the  camp  to  us.  We 
put  out  the  decoys,  and  just  at  dusk  shot  a  pair  of  gray 
ducks — which  are  something  of  a  rarity  on  the  Cape,  and 
are  highly  prized.  About  six  o'clock  Will  started  for  home, 
leaving  us  in  sole  possession.  Just  as  we  were  beginning  to 
wonder  what  was  keeping  Gardner  so  long  we  heard  his 
footsteps  along  the  shore,  and  soon  his  welcome  form  ap- 
peared in  the  stand. 

As  we  had  taken  in  the  decoys  and  fed  them  there  re- 
mained nothing  further  to  do.  After  standing  for  a  few 
minutes  and  gazing  out  over  the  quiet  surface  of  the  lake, 
which  was  now  beginning  to  reflect  from  its  glassy  depths 
the  stars,  as  one  by  one  they  took  their  places  high  up  in 
the  ethereal  blue,  we  reluctantly  turned  away  from  the 
charming  scene  and  sought  the  shanty,  where  we  soon  had 
a  substantial  repast  ready  to  which  having  done  full  justice 
we  sat  for  several  hours  smoking  and  telling  stories,  and 
then  feeling  sleepy — for  we  had  been  exposed  to  the  sun 
and  wind  all  day — we  rolled  ourselves  in  our  blankets  and 
slept  soundly  till  four  o'clock  the  next  morning. 

We  were  awakened  by  Gardner  promptly  at  four 
o'clock,  and  tumbling  out  of  the  blankets  found  our  friend 
busily  engaged  in  preparing  coffee.  On  going  outside  we 
found  the  weather  mild  and  pleasant,  with  the  promise  of  a 
beautiful  day.  We  lost  no  time  in  completing  our  toilet 


46  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK    SHOOTING 


and  getting  a  cup  of  steaming  coffee,  and  then  to  the  stand, 
where  we  found  everything  as  we  had  left  it  the  night 
before. 

Hastily  putting  the  fetters  on  the  ducks,  we  soon  had 
them  consigned  to  their  native  element,  where  they  alighted 
with  many  a  splash  and  quack,  which  were  immediately  an- 
swered by  the  decoys  at  Annable's  and  Stony  Point,  show- 
ing that  our  neighbors  across  the  way  had  been  earlier 
risers  than  we  ;  and  in  fact  we  had  fancied  that  we  could 
hear  their  decoys  when  we  had  first  stepped  out-doors. 

The  morning  being  clear,  daylight  came  on  rapidly, 
and  we  could  soon  see  with  the  aid  of  the  glass  everything 
that  was  going  on  on  our  side  of  the  lake.  We  could  see 
an  occasional  flash  from  the  guns  at  the  farther  end  of  the 
lake,  but  it  was  not  yet  light  enough  to  tell  at  that  dis- 
tance what  the  amount  of  damage  was,  if  any  A  pair  of 
blue-wing  teal  flew  past  the  decoys  at  a  rate  of  speed  that 
resembled  a  flash  of  light  more  than  anything  else  ;  but 
quick  as  was  the  motion,  it  did  not  pass  unobserved  or  un- 
challenged, for  Gardner's  Bonehill  was  already  at  his 
shoulder,  and  a  charge  of  number  five  shot  brought  to  a 
sudden  termination  the  career  of  the  foremost  bird,  the 
rear  bird  being  well  out  of  harm's  way  by  the  time  the  second 
barrel  could  be  turned  upon  him,  though  the  Bonehill  did 
its  best  to  get  there  on  time. 

So  the  morning  wore  on,  the  shots  being  pretty  evenly 
divided,  as  near  as  we  could  judge,  between  the  three 
stands.  As  the  sun  rose  in  a  perfect  sea  of  golden  splen- 
dor, awakening  the  quiet  surface  of  the  water  to  new  life 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  47 


and  sending  tremulous  waves  of  light  hither  and  thither,  the 
rich  colorings  of  the  birches,  maples  and  sumacs  on  Long 
Point  took  on  an  added  beauty ;  the  perch  and  pickerel 
with  which  these  waters  teem  rose  to  the  surface  as  though 
eager  to  bask  in  the  warm  sunlight,  whose  soft  rays  were 
now  being  thrown  directly  upon  us  dispelling  the  chill 
mists  that  hung  low  about  the  borders  of  the  lake,  and  im- 
parting a  genial  warmth  to  us.  who  had  stood  for  loug  hours 
exposed  to  the  crisp,  cutting  October  air.  For  this  we 
were  all  profoundly  grateful,  even  to  our  faithful  retriever, 
"  Santa,"  who  winked  and  blinked  his  satisfaction  and 
stretched  himself  lasily  and  prepared  to  take  another  nap. 
We  had  seen  no  birds  for  nearly  an  hour,  and  as  it  was  get- 
ting a  little  monotonous,  Gardner  concluded  he  would  go 
into  the  shanty  and  indulge  in  a  quiet  smoke. 

He  had  been  gone  but  a  few  minutes,  however,  when 
we  saw  swinging  into  the  beautiful  expanse  of  water  on  our 
left,  known  as  Elisha's  Bend  a  flock  of  ducks  which  must 
have  numbered  nearly  one  hundred  birds.  Quickly  pick- 
ing up  a  decoy  and  throwing  it  high  in  the  air,  we  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  the  flock  turn  in  our  direction,  as  it 
shot  towards  the  water ;  ann  as  the  second  decoy  struck  the 
water  the  entire  flock  set  their  wings  and  alighted  about 
two  hundred  yards  distant  from  us, 

It  was  but  the  work  of  a  moment  to  run  back  to  the 
shanty  and  notify  Andrew,  who  immediately  appeared, 
bringing  with  him  the  famous  long  gun  with  which  his 
father  had  been  wont  to  exterminate  whole  flocks  of  ducks, 
and  putting  it  in  a  convenient  place  in  the  stand  he  pre- 


48  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK   SHOOTING 

pared  to  receive  the  birds  with  all  the  attention  due  them. 

It  soon  became  evident  that  the  entire  flock  could  not 
be  decoyed,  and  it  was  doubtful  for  a  while  whether  any 
portion  of  it  would  really  come  to  the  decoys  ;  but  after  much 
swimming  about  and  apparently  debating  amongst  them- 
selves as  to  the  best  course  to  pursue,  about  twenty  of  the 
birds  left  the  flock  and  swam  rapidly  towards  us.  As  the 
ducks  reached  the  decoys  and  the  probability  of  securing 
a  good  shot  became  a  certainity,  our  excitement  knew  no 
bounds,  and  we  were  in  great  danger  of  becomming  "rat- 
tled" at  the  prospect  of  having  so  large  a  bunch  of  ducks 
within  the  range  of  our  guns.  Had  we  remained  a  trifle 
more  cool  we  should  probably  have  had  a  better  account  to 
give  of  our  stewardship  than  that  which  we  are  now  re- 
quired truthfully  to  render. 

As  the  birds  came  within  easy  range  and  together,  An- 
drew, who  was  master  of  ceremonies,  hastily  mapped  out 
the  plan  of  action,  which  was,  that  we  should  fire  together 
at  his  word,  he  to  use  the  long  single-barreled,  muzzle- 
loader  of  prehistoric  fame,  which  carried  about  one-fourth 
of  a  pound  of  shot  and  Lord  knows  how  much  powder, 
and  which  under  all  circumstances  could  be  relied  upon  to 
kick  worse  than  an  army  mule,  and  then  to  use  the  double- 
barrelled  Bonehill  when  the  birds  rose.  In  that  way  An- 
drew argued  we  could  kill  nearly  the  whole  of  them.  We 
took  our  respective  positions  with  wildly  beating  hearts  as 
we  glanced  along  the  shining  tubes,  out  through  the  narrow 
apperture,  at  the  dark  shining  mass  of  black,  blue  and 
green  plumage  which  marked  the  spot  where  the  ducks 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  49 


were  listlessly  bobbing  up  and  down,  all  unconscious  of  the 
danger  that  lurked  in  such  close  proximity ;  and  as  Andrew 
gave  the  word — "  One,  two,  three,  fire  !" — the  slumbering 
echoes  of  the  forest  awoke  as  if  by  magic,  in  response  to 
the  crash  and  roar  which  followed  the  discharge  of  our 
guns. 

We  saw  through  the  smoke  the  form  of  Andrew  as  he 
reeled  back,  in  obedience  to  a  great  law  of  nature,  from  the 
powerful  back-action  combination  of  the  antiquated  arm 
whose  reverberating  roar  was  even  now  dying  away  among 
the  recesses  of  the  distant  hills,  and  then,  looking  over  the 
top  of  the  stand,  caught  sight  of  a  rapidly  retreating  flock  of 
badly  scared  ducks.  We  looked  eagerly  down  at  the  water 
to  see  what  the  effects  of  the  shot  had  been,  and  were  cha- 
grined beyond  measure  to  find  that  we  had  killed  but  five, 
after  all  our  elaborate  preparations  and  sanguine  expecta- 
tions. As  we  took  in  the  situation  at  a  glance,  the  truth 
flashed  upon  us  that  in  our  excitement  and  eagerness  we 
had  overshot  while  the  birds  were  sitting  on  the  water, — a 
mighty  easy  thing  to  do,  by  the  way, — and  the  heavy  recoil 
and  dense  smoke  had  retarded  our  movements  in  the  use  of 
the  second  barrel,  so  that  whereas  we  ought  to  have  killed 
a  dozen  birds,  we  had  only  five  to  show  for  our  lack  of 
judgment  and  skill. 

As  the  fleck  swept  away  northward  on  their  course,  An- 
drew mournfully  shook  his  head,  saying,  "You  will  never 
see  such  a  shot  again  at  Coleman's  Island."  The  incident 
seemed  to  have  a  depressing  effect  on  our  spirits  during  the 
remainder  of  our  stay  in  camp.  But  it  is  an  ill  wind  that 


50  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK    SHOOTING 


blows  nobody  good,  and  as  the  flock,  which  now  required 
the  services  of  the  glass  to  keep  in  sight,  swept  by  Stony 
Point,  they  took  a  sudden  sheer  which  brought  them  well 
in  over  the  decoys,  and  presented  a  fine  quartering  shot, 
which  the  Stony  Point  boys  were  not  slow  to  take  advantage 
of,  pouring  in  a  deadly  volley  as  they  passed,  dropping 
thirteen  into  the  water,  most  of  which  they  retrieved  ;  but 
this  did  not  surprise  us  in  the  least,  the  only  wonder  being 
that  they  did  not  kill  them  all,  as  this  was  only  one  of  the 
many  good  shots  we  at  different  times  had  seen  them  make. 
Once  they  had  killed  fourteen  out  of  eighteen  Canada 
geese  at  the  first  discharge  of  their  guns,  and,  as  if  that  were 
not  sufficient  for  once,  reloaded  and  killed  two  out  of  the 
remaining  four,  before  the  frightened  birds  could  get  be- 
yond range. 

We  did  not  get  another  shot  at  ducks  that  morning,  and 
soon  retired  to  the  shanty.  After  partaking  of  a  substantial 
breakfast,  followed  by  a  cigar,  in  the  smoke  of  which  passed 
away  the  keenest  part  of  our  disappointment,  we  were  again 
ready  for  whatever  fortune  might  have  in  store  for  us,  and 
passed  the  remainder  of  the  day  in  lounging  about  the 
camp,  the  day  being  marked  by  no  incident  worthy  of 
mention. 

That  evening  we  agreed  that  the  next  day  should  be 
our  last  in  camp,  as  we  both  felt  tliat  we  could  not  spare  a 
longer  time  from  our  business,  much  as  we  would  like  to  do 
so,  for  we  had  had  a  pleasant  time  and  were  loth  to  give  up 
the  wild,  free  life  of  the  woods  and  return  to  our  arduous 
duties  ;  but  the  inexorable  laws  of  business  demanded  it, 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  51 


so  we  were  bound  to  accept  the  situation  with  as  good  grace 
as  possible. 

That  night  we  retired  to  our  rude  couch  and  slept 
soundly  until  morning,  when  we  were  again  at  our  post 
eagerly  watching  for  the  slightest  indication  of  ducks  ;  but 
though  we  stood  faithfully  on  the  watch  till  the  sun  had 
mounted  high  in  the  heavens,  no  ducks  came  to  reward  our 
lonely  vigil,  and  at  nine  o'clock  we  took  in  the  decoys  and 
prepared  for  breakfast.  In  the  afternoon  we  enjoyed  for 
an  hour  or  so  some  excellent  sport, — gull  shooting, — and 
killed  quite  a  number,  darkness  closing  over  the  scene  with- 
out our  having  scored  a  single  shot  at  ducks  for  the  entire 
day. 

Our  last  night  in  camp  was  spent  around  the  cheerful 
blaze  of  our  little  camp-stove,  which  furnished  us  both 
light  and  heat,  with  the  aid  of  an  old  bullseye  lantern, 
which  had  done  some  forty  years'  service  on  board  a  sail- 
ing packet,  and  was  now  vainly  striving  to  rest  on  its  'well- 
earned  laurels.  It  had  been  brought  forth  now,  much 
against  its  inclination,  and  pressed  into  an  unwilling  ser- 
vice, to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  occasion,  and  showed 
its  evident  disappobation  of  the  whole  proceedings  by  in- 
dulging in  a  constant  series  of  spiteful  splutterings,  \\hich 
threatened  every  minute  to  effectually  extinguish  its  pale 
and  flickering  light. 

Long  after  our  usual  hour  for  retiring  we  sat  by  the  fire, 
and  over  our  cigars  recalled  the  many  incidents  of  bygone 
days, — some  pathetic,  some  humorous,  but  all  possessing  a 
peculiar  interest  of  their  own.  as  viewed  by  the  flickering 


52  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK   SHOOTING 


light,  and  when  at  last  we  rolled  ourselves  in  our  blankets, 
it  was  to  live  over  again  in  our  dreams  the  scenes  and  in- 
cidents of  the  past  as  they  had  been  flashed  upon  the  retina 
of  our  memory,  under  the  magic  iufluence  of  a  dying  camp- 
fire. 

We  were  a  little  late  in  turning  out  the  next  morning, 
and  when  we  emerged  into  the  open  air  it  was  to  find  a 
cloudless  morning,  without  a  breath  of  air  stirring.  In- 
deed, so  still  was  it  that  we  could  plainly  hear  the  quacking 
of  the  decoys  at  Stony  Point,  and  as  we  entered  the  stand 
and  looked  out  on  the  lake,  it  was  to  behold  a  calm,  glassy 
surface  stretching  away  for  many  hundred  yards  to  where 
a  thin  film  of  mist  lay  low  on  the  water,  obscuring  the  dis- 
tant horizon  from  view.  As  the  sun  came  peeping  up  over 
Long  Point,  the  mists  were  suddenly  dispelled,  disclosing 
to  our  view  a  pair  of  black  ducks,  which  had  evidently 
been  waiting  for  more  light  before  attempting  to  make  a 
closer  acquaintance  with  our  decoys ;  and  now  that  it  was 
light  enough  to  enable  them  to  satisfy  their  curiosity  and 
neighborly  instincts,  they  swam  boldly  in  and  were  quickly 
gathered  unto  their  fathers. 

This  was  the  only  incident  that  served  to  enliven  the 
scene  for  some  time,  and  then  our  attention  became  at- 
tracted toward  the  erratic  movements  of  a  flock  of  ducks 
£t  the  farther  end  of  the  lake;  they  were  amusing  them- 
selves by  flying  first  in  one  direction  and  then  in  another, 
but  they  strenuously  resisted  all  attempts  at  decoying, 
though  the  veterans  at  Annable's  and  Stony  Point  made 
the  most  frantic  efforts  to  bring  them  within  reach  of  their 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  53 

guns.  Suddenly  wheeling,  the  flock  passed  the  stand  at 
Annable's  Point  with  a  provoking  nearness  that  tempted  the 
gunners  to  rebuke  such  foolhardiness,  and  they  accordingly 
gave  them  a  salute  of  half  a  dozen  guns,  which  only  served 
to  accelerate  their  speed  in  our  direction.  Crouching  low 
in  the  stand,  we  watched  their  approach  until  they  were  di- 
rectly over  our  heads,  wheeling  and  circling  so  near  that 
we  could  see  their  eyes  and  hear  the  rush  of  their  wings  as 
they  swept  past  us  ;  and  then,  having  satisfied  themselves 
that  everything  was  all  right,  they  dropped  gently  down  to 
the  decoys.  We,  springing  to  our  feet,  took  them  just  as 
they  were  hovering  over  the  decoys,  killing  three  with  the 
first  barrel,  and  picking  up  two  more  with  the  second,  as 
they  rose  in  the  air  and  winged  their  way  towards  the  sunny 
south. 

Retrieving  our  birds,  we  waited  a  half  hour  or  so  longer, 
hoping  to  secure  another  shot ;  but  as  no  birds  came  and  it 
was  getting  late,  we  decided  to  break  camp  and  go  up  into 
the  village.  It  took  us  but  a  very  short  time  to  put  things 
in  order  and  to  pack  up  our  camp  "duffle"  and  stow  it  in 
the  boat ;  and  then  pushing  off,  with  Andrew  at  the  oars, 
we  crossed  the  cove  and  soon  landed  on  the  opposite  shore. 

We  stood  for  some  minutes  on  the  bank,  a  feeling  of  sad- 
ness stealing  over  us  because  our  trip  was  ended,  for  it  had 
been  a  week  of  genuine  pleasure  throughout,  unmarred  by 
storms  or  other  untoward  events.  The  water  never  looked 
more  lovely  than  now,  slightly  stirred  by  a  gentle  breeze, 
causing  the  sunlight  to  dance  along  the  tiny,  sparkling  waves 
that  lapped  upon  the  shore  with  a  musical  sound  resembling 


54  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK    SHOOTING 


laughter,  while  a  whispering  farewell  was  wafted  to  our  ears 
from  the  stately  pines,  that  for  ages  past  have  sung 
their  solemn  requiem  on  Coleman  Island's  lonely  shore. 

As  we  turned  away  and  plunged  into  the  leafy  cover  of 
the  woods,  we  heard  again  the  roar  of  the  guns  at  Stony 
Point,  telling  us  that  one  more  flock  of  Anus  Obscura  had 
been  wiped  out  from  the  fauna  of  North  America. 


CHAPTER  V. 


i 


'  PON  awakening  one  beautiful  Sabbath  morning 
late  in  September,  we  were  impressed  with  the 
idea  that  we  needed  a  vacation,  so  we  decided 
to  hitch  up  and  drive  to  Centreville,  twenty 
miles  distant,  and  see  what  opportunities  for  sport  were 
there  afforded.  We  accordingly  started  a  little  after  eight 
o'clock,  and,  passing  the  villages  of  East  Falmouth  and  Wa- 
quoit,  were  soon  in  Mashpee  woods,  and  after  an  hour's 
drive  reached  Mashpee  River,  which  flows  many  miles 
through  a  dense  forest,  well  stocked  with  game,  and  which 
has  furnished  trout  for  such  distinguished  anglers  as  Daniel 
Webster  and  Grover  Cleveland,  as  well  as  for  many  others 
of  less  note  and  eminence. 

We  found  it  very  hot  in  the  woods,  the  road  being 
dusty  and  the  sun  beating  down  through  the  pine  forest 
with  a  fierceness  that  forced  us  to  travel  slowly,  for  we  in- 
tended driving  back  that  evening,  and  we  knew  that  time 
lost  now  would  be  well  compensated  for  on  the  homeward 
drive.  A  half  hour's  travel,  however,  took  us  out  of  the 
woods  and  into  the  historic  village  of  Cotuit,  and  passing 
the  little  hamlet  of  Marston's  Mills,  which  is  chiefly  cele- 
brated as  being  the  summer  home  of  that  distinguished 


56  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK   SHOOTING 

writer  and  jurist,  Henry  A.  Scudder,  were  soon  approach- 
ing the  beautiful  village  of  Osterville,  which  is  fast  attain- 
ing celebrity  as  a  fashionable  watering  place. 

We  were  now  once  more  within  the  immediate  vicin- 
ity of  Vineyard  Sound,  and  as  we  drove  into  the  vil  age 
were  met  with  a  cooling  breeze,  fresh  from  old  ocean, 
and  passing  through  the  village  were  soon  in  sight  of  the 
broad  and  beautiful  waters  of  the  sound.  The  ride  from 
Osterville  to  Centreville  is  one  of  the  most  delightful  to  be 
found  anywhere  on  Cape  Cod,  the  broad  waters  of  the 
sound  being  in  sight  all  the  way  and  in  close  proximity, 
being  separated  from  the  road  by  the  beautiful  Chequaquett 
River,  which  flows  into  Osterville  Bay,  thenca  joining  the 
ocean. 

Away  to  the  northeast  are  seen  the  Craigville  bluffs  in 
Centreville,  thickly  dotted  with  picturesque  cottages,  and 
the  summer  home  of  the  Christian  Baptists,  which  society 
holds  an  annual  campmeeting  there  each  season. 

Just  beyond  is  Hyannioport  and  Squaw's  Island  Point ; 
and  if  the  ride  is  taken  in  the  evening,  the  twinkling  lights 
of  Bishop  and  Clerk's  lightship  are  seen  far  out  at  sea. 
We  rumble  across  the  substantial  bridge  that  here  crosses 
an  arm  of  the  river  separating  the  villages  of  Centreville 
and  Osterville,  and  driving  along  the  shady  streets  of  this, 
one  of  the  most  quiet  and  romantic  villages  to  be  found 
anywhere  along  the  south  shore,  soon  arrive  at  the  old 
homestead,  cosily  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  Chequa- 
quett River,  which  at  this  point  is  heavily  wooded  down  to 
the  water's  edge,  abounding  in  picturesque  curves,  and  fer- 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  57 


tile,  sloping  meadows,  and  is  in  the  direct  line  of  flight  of 
myriads  of  water  fowl  that  during  the  months  of  autumn 
are  constantly  winging  their  way  south. 

A  few  inquiries  brought  out  the  information  that  the 
ducks  were  beginning  to  arrive  at  Wequaket  Lake,  and  that 
the  gunners  were  opening  up  the  camps  and  getting  in 
readiness  for  the  fall  campaign  ;  also  that  numerous  flocks 
of  white-vvings  and  whistling  coots  had  been  flying  down 
river,  bound  s'juth,  within  the  past  few  days, — a  sure  har- 
binger of  autum  and  of  glorious  days  of  sport.  Before  the 
day  passed  we  had  an  opportunity  to  verify  these  reports, 
several  flocks  of  black  duck  passing  directly  over  the  house 
on  their  way  to  the  blue  waters  of  the  sound  just  beyond. 
This,  of  course,  was  sufficient  to  arouse  our  enthusiasm  to 
the  highest  pitch,  and  as  several  of  our  cousins  were  stop- 
ping at  the  house,  all  of  them  fond  of  duck  shooting,  the 
conversation  naturally  turned  to  ducks,  guns  and  other  kin- 
dred subjects,  and  was  prolonged  well  into  the  afternoon, 
when  the  door  suddenly  opened  and  in  walked  our  old 
friend  Capt.  William  Kelley,  the  man  above  all  others  that 
at  this  particular  time  we  most  desired  to  see  ;  and  from 
him  we  learned  that  he  was  about  to  open  up  the  camp  of 
the  Messrs.  Marston  at  Stony  Point,  Wequaket  Lake,  and 
expected  to  have  it  in  running  order  in  a  few  days,  and 
that,  as  he  expected  to  be  alone  for  a  few  weeks,  he  would 
be  glad  to  have  us  come  down  and  spend  a  week  or  two 
in  camp  with  him. 

This  being  exactly  our  idea  of  a  vacation,  we  were  not 
slow  in  accepting  the  invitation,  and  agreed  to  be  on  hand 


5$  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK    SHOOTING 


early  the  following  week,  and  after  taking  leave  of  our 
friend, — first  promising  to  send  down  some  wood  decoys 
on  the  following  day, — we  had  our  team  hitched  up,  as  it 
was  getting  late  in  the  afternoon  and  we  had  twenty  miles 
to  cover  before  reaching  home.  About  five  o'clock  we 
started  on  our  homeward  drive.  The  return  drive  was 
made  without  incident,  and  we  reached  home  early  in  the 
evening,  and  on  the  following  day  forwarded  the  decoys, 
which  arrived  safely  and  were  soon  performing  their  allotted 
task  of  deception,  to  the  intense  dismay  of  several  black 
duck  and  other  aquatic  fowl,  which,  having  allowed  their 
curiosity  to  get  the  better  of  their  judgment,  suddenly  found 
themselves  within  range  of  "  Billy's"  death-dealing  ten- 
gauge,  and  usually  paid  dear  for  their  temerity  in  the  loss 
of  many  of  their  companions.  Still  they  would  not  learn 
wisdom  by  experience,  and  the  disasters  of  one  day  were 
usually  followed  by  a  similar  experience  the  next. 

The  week  passed  away,  in  which  we  had  ample 
time  to  arrange  our  business  and  prepare  for  our  de- 
parture, and  as  the  following  Monday  morning  rolled 
around  it  found  us  prepared  and  equipped,  and  at  the  sta- 
tion awaiting  the  train  that  was  to  bear  us  Capewards,  and 
which  left  us  at  West  Barnstable  in  due  time.  The  day 
was  lovely  and  all  that  could  be  desired,  and  the  ride  across 
the  Cape  to  the  South  Shore  in  the  open  stage  a  pleasant 
relief  from  the  close  cars,  and  we  arrived  at  our  old  home 
by  the  riverside  in  time  for  dinner,  which  had  been  kept 
waiting  for  us  and  was  now  ready. 

From  the  folks  at  the  house  we  learned  that  Billy  had 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  59 


cjme  up  from  the  lake  that  morning  in  anticipation  of  our 
arrival,  and  would  probably  wish  to  get  back  to  camp  quite 
early  in  the  afternoon,  as  the  ducks  had  been  coming  in 
during  the  afternoon  for  several  days  past ;  so  after  dinner 
we  overhauled  our  kit  and  stored  away  in  the  capacious 
pockets  of  our  gunning  jackets  such  things  as  we  should  be 
most  likely  to  need,  and  then  shouldering  our  guns  strolled 
in  the  direction  of  our  friend's  home,  but  a  short  distance 
away  and  on  the  road  to  the  lake. 

As  we  drew  near  the  house  we  discovered  Billy  stand- 
ing at  the  gate  with  gun  under  his  arm  and  lunch  box  in 
hand,  evidently  awaiting  us,  and  on  coming  up  with  him 
and  returning  his  hearty  greeting,  found  that  he  was  all 
ready  to  start  and  only  waiting  for  us  to  put  in  an  appear- 
ance, as  he  was  anxious  to  get  back  to  camp  as  early  in  the 
afternoon  as  possible. 

For  several  days  past  he  had  been  getting  shots  at 
ducks  late  in  the  afternoon,  and  did  not  like  to  let  any 
chances  of  that  kind  slip  by.  We  accordingly  started  at 
once,  accompanied  by  Billy's  faithful  retriever,  that  rejoiced 
in  the  the  euphonious  name  of  Tramp  ;  but  he  was  a  grand 
dog  and  faithful  companion,  greatly  attached  to  his  master, 
and,  as  the  days  went  by  and  we  became  better  acquainted, 
soon  came  to  regard  us  too  as  old  friends  and  to  bestow  on 
us  a  share  of  his  confidence  and  affection  He  accompa- 
nied us  on  all  our  tramps  to  and  from  the  lake,  and 
whether  snugly  ensconsed  with  us  in  the  stand  eagerly 
watching  for  ducks,  or  cruising  with  us  along  the  reedy 
Chores  of  the  lake  in  search  of  cripples  that  might  be 


60  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK    SHOOTING 


snugly  stowed  away  in  the  thick  grass,  or  in  roaming  in  the 
woods  on  our  numerous  excursions  inland  after  firewood,  or 
in  pursuit  of  partridges  and  squirrels,  he  seemed  intuitively 
to  know  his  part,  and  went  straightway  to  perform  it,  with 
little  urging  from  us. 

The  afternoon  was  warm  and  pleasant,  and  we  saun 
tered  leisurely  along  through  the  fields  and  woods  past 
Long  Pond,  cosily  nestled  among  the  hills  and  pines,  its 
quiet  surface  reflecting  the  rays  of  the  afternoon  sun.  Along 
the  dusty  highway  and  on  for  a  few  rods,  where  we  cross 
the  county  road,  passing  the  old  burying  ground  on  the 
hillside  where,  after  life's  journey  ended, 

"The  rude  forefathers  of  the  hamlet  sleep," 
and  thence  gaining  the  woods  ;  after  a  walk  of  about  fifteen 
minutes  we  reached  the  lake  shore  where  Billy  has  his 
boat  moored,  and,  transferring  our  luggage  to  the  boat, 
jumped  in,  the  dog  scrambling  in  over  the  bow  just  as  we 
are  in  the  act  of  pushing  off,  and  with  Billy  at  the  oars,  we 
speed  away  over  the  placid  surface  of  the  lovely  lake,  out 
by  Coleman's  Island,  covered  with  its  sombre  growth  of 
stalwart  pines,  whose  tops,  gently  moved  by  the  wind,  send 
playful  shadows  along  the  water  far  out  on  either  side. 

As  we  pass  the  point  of  the  island,  the  scene  of  our 
former  exploits,  we  scan  the  shore  closely  for  some  sign  of 
life,  but  observe  none,  all  being  quiet  and  deserted,  Gard- 
ner not  yet  having  got  into  camp.  Leaving  the  island  be- 
hind us,  we  make  the  opposite  shore  and  run  in  under 
Long  Point,  from  whence  we  shape  our  course  for  Stony 
Point,  yet  many  rods  away. 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  6 1 

When  about  half  the  distance  has  been  covered,  we 
are  suddenly  attracted  by  the  eager  motion  of  the  dog, — 
that  from  his  point  of  vantage  in  the  bow  has  been  a  keen 
observer  of  all  that  was  transpiring, — and,  looking,  in  the 
direction  indicated,  see  a  large  flock  of  white-wing  coots 
coming  down  the  lake  at  no  great  distance  from  the  water, 
and  evidently  bound  out  over  the  beach.  As  they  appear 
to  be  coming  our  way,  we  hastily  slip  a  couple  of  shells  into 
our  guns  in  anticipation  of  a  shot.  They  bear  down  upon 
us  with  lightning  speed  and  a  mighty  rush  and  roar  of 
wings,  their  glossy  forms  glistening  in  the  sunlight,  and 
though  they  pass  us  too  wide  for  a  successful  shot,  yet 
they  look  so  tempting  that  Billy  ceases  rowing  and  steady- 
ing the  boat  with  the  oars,  says,  "Try  'em  if  you  want  to." 
This  we  do,  giving  them  both  barrels,  causing  them  to  reel 
and  stagger,  but  still  they  keep  on,  though  we  can  hear 
the  shot  strike  them,  which  proves  that  our  aim  was  good. 
We  gaze  after  them,  hoping  to  see  one  drop  out ;  but  we 
are  not  '-in  it"  this  time,  as  the  flock  gradually  rises  high 
in  air  and  is  lost  to  view  behind  the  forest-clad  shores  of 
Coleman's  Island,  and  Billy,  bending  again  to  the  oars, 
remarks  with  one  of  his  quiet  laughs,  "  When  you  can 
hear  the  shot  strike  'em,  they  are  too  far  off." 

A  few  minutes  later  we  are  at  Stony  Point,  and  run- 
ning in  behind  the  island,  the  boat  glides  up  upon  the 
strand.  Springing  out,  we  pull  her  well  up  into  the  bushes 
that  thickly  line  the  shore,  where  she  cannot  thump  against 
the  rocks  or  be  filled  with  water  in  case  the  wind  should 
rise  during  the  night  and  send  the  waves  rolling  and  dash- 


62  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK   SHOOTING 


ing  upon  the  beach.  We  also  took  care  to  leave  her  fully 
protected  from  the  prying  eyes  of  any  ducks  that  might 
happen  to  pass  in  close  proximity  to  the  island,  and  then 
unloading  the  boat  we  carried  everything  up  to  the  camp 
and  stowed  all  away  in  the  shanty. 

On  consulting  our  watches  we  found  it  to  be  four  o'clock, 
and  time  the  decoys  were  out ;  so  taking  the  guns  and  field 
glass,  and  accompanied  by  Tramp,  we  bent  our  steps  in  the 
direction  of  the  "  blind  "  at  the  end  of  the  point,  and  a 
few  minutes  later  were  standing  within  the  enclosed  barri- 
cade of  boards  and  branches  of  birch  and  pine  trees,  deftly 
interwoven,  and  placed  so  as  to  present  from  the  outside  a 
perfectly  natural  appearance. 

Having  got  the  decoys  out  and  placed  to  our  satisfac- 
tion, we  were  at  liberty  to  turn  our  attention  to  the  lovely 
landscape  spread  out  before  us,  the  view  of  the  lake  from 
Stony  Point  being  grand  and  beautiful,  commanding  as  it 
does  a  fine  lookout  in  every  direction.  The  lake  is  at  its 
widest  here,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  glass  we  can  plainly 
discern  all  that  is  transpiring  at  Bliss's  Point  on  the  oppo- 
site shore  and  away  to  the  northwest,  and  can  look  into  the 
blind  at  Annable's  Point  directly  opposite.  Coleman's 
Island,  the  scene  of  our  former  sport,  clothed  in  its  living 
mantle  of  green,  stands  out  clear  and  well  defined,  .the 
most  prominent  feature  of  the  landscape  to  the  south, 
while  to  the  north  Shoot  Flying  Hill,  the  most  prominent 
landmark  for  miles  around,  looks  benignly  down  upon  the 
beautiful  panorama  nature  here  spreads  out  for  her  lovers. 

The  wind  was  east,  and  the  air  grew  raw  and  chilly  as 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  63 

the  afternoon  wore  on,  with  every  appearance  of  a  southerly 
wind  before  morning.  Our  eyes  were  gladdened  with 
the  first  sight  of  ducks  about  four  o'clock  that  afternoon, 
after  an  hour  of  patient  watching  and  waiting.  We  were 
standing  in  the  northeast  corner  of  the  "  blind, "  looking 
towards  the  north,  when  there  suddenly  appeared  upon  the 
horizon  a  dark  speck  which,  as  it  drew  near,  rapidly  evolved 
itself  into  a  flock  of  ducks.  A  whispered  word  to  Billy 
brought  him  quickly  to  our  side,  when  we  watched  together 
the  flight  of  the  on-coming  birds  It  soon  became  evident 
that  they  did  not  intend  to  stop,  and  in  a  few  moments 
they  passed  us  high  in  air.  taking  no  notice  of  the  de- 
coys, who  sent  after  them  a  ringing  challenge,  playing  their 
part  well.  We  gazed  after  them  till  they  were  but  a  tiny 
speck  on  the  southern  horizon,  and  were  soon  lost  to  view? 
and  then  settled  down  to  wait  until  another  flock  should 
appear,  and  again  arouse  us  from  our  sleepy  reveries  to 
plunge  us  into  that  wild  enthusiasm  always  slumbering  in 
the  breast  of  the  true  devotee  of  the  sport,  and  only  need- 
ing to  be  awakened  at  the  sight  of  the  noble  game  which 
he  pursues. 

The  shadows  lengthen,  the  air  grows  chill  and  frosty,  and 
no  sign  of  ducks  as  yet.  From  the  campfire  of  our  neigh- 
bors across  the  way  a  thin  film  of  blue  smoke  mounted 
lazily  upwards,  announcing  that  supper  was  in  progress,  and 
Billy,  with  a  sweeping  glance  along  the  horizon  and  across 
the  surface  of  the  lake,  turns  toward  us  and  says  :  "  I  guess 
you  can  kill  all  the  ducks  that  come  ;  if  you  can't,  why,  you 
can  call  me  ;  I  am  going  into  the  shanty  to  start  a  fire  and 


64  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK    SHOOTING 


get  our  supper ; "  and  with  this  remark  he  disappeared 
through  the  narrow  aperture  that  opened  into  the  path  that 
led  from  the  "blind  "  up  to  the  ca.np,  and  was  almost  im- 
mediately followed  by  Tramp,  whose  canine  instincts  no 
doubt  led  him  to  believe  that  supper  was  not  far  off. 

Darkness  was  now  fast  approaching,  and  it  was  with 
difficulty  that  we  could  distinguish  objects  at  any  great  dis- 
tance, even  with  the  aid  of  the  glass.  We  amused  our- 
selves watching  the  movements  of  the  decoys,  and  by  occa- 
sionally bringing  our  guns  to  the  shoulder  and  looking 
along  the  polished  barrels  in  order  to  assure  ourselves  that 
the  sights  still  showed  plain.  We  had  been  somewhat 
cramped  and  stiff  from  our  long  vigil,  and  were  on  the  point 
of  going  in  search  of  our  friend  and  the  warm  glow  of  the 
campfire,  which  we  knew  was  now  permeating  the  shanty, 
when  our  attention  was  suddenly  attracted  by  a  peculiar 
movement  of  the  decoys,  that  for  the  last  half-hour  had 
been  quietly  sitting  with  heads  under  their  wings,  but 
were  now  swimming  about  in  a  lively  manner  and  giving 
vent  to  certain  low  cooing  notes  that  we  had  learned  to  rec- 
ognize as  a  note  of  welcome  which  they  were  in  the  habit 
of  extending  to  their  wild  brethren  whenever  any  of  them 
approached  very  near. 

Instantly  cocking  our  guns,  we  stepped  to  the  front  of 
the  ''blind,"  but  at  first  could  not  see  any  signs  of  game. 
In  a  few  moments,  however,  our  eyes  becoming  accustomed 
to  the  darkness,  we  descried  through  the  fast -gathering 
gloom  the  outlines  of  a  pair  of  wild  ducks  swimming  nois- 
lessly  in  to  the  decoys,  and  thinking  it  would  be  hardly 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  65 


fair  not  to  give  Billy  a  chance  at  them,  we  stepped  back 
with  the  intention  of  crawling  up  to  the  shanty  and  calling 
him,  when  he  suddenly  appeared  at  the  entrance  to  the 
"  blind,"  gun  in  hand.  Cautioning  him  against  making  any 
noise,  we  directed  him  to  a  corner  of  the  "blind  "  that  af- 
forded the  best  view  of  the  ducks,  and  giving  the  word  we 
fired  together,  killing  the  pair,  which  Tramp  retrieved  for 
us  in  good  style. 

It  was  now  too  dark  to  think  of  further  shooting,  the 
moon  not  having  risen  as  yet,  so  Billy  advised  our  going  to 
the  shanty  and  getting  our  supper,  which  was  now  ready, 
leaving  the  decoys  where  they  were,  as  by  eight  o'clock  it 
would  be  moonlight,  and  then  we  could  try  it  again.  As 
this  i.lea  impressed  us  favorably,  especially  that  part  of  it 
which  related  to  the  supper,  we  lost  no  time  in  complying 
with  so  reasonable  a  request,  and  hastily  picked  up  our 
guns  and  the  ducks,  which  on  investigation  proved  to  be 
plump  and  fat  and  in  fine  order,  they  being  young  birds. 

We  followed  Billy  down  the  narrow  path  that  led  up 
to  the  shanty,  interlaced  with  branches  of  birch  and  maple, 
and  on  opening  the  door  were  met  by  a  flood  of  light  and 
grateful  warmth  which  quickly  dispelled  the  chill  to  which 
our  lonely  watch  had  subjected  us,  and  divesting  ourselves 
of  our  heavy  clothing,  we  at  once  fell  to  and  proceeded  to 
demolish  the  good  things  which  were  temptingly  arrayed  on 
the  rude  table  ;  to  the  utter  dismay  of  Tramp,  looking  on 
with  consternation  depicted  in  every  lineament  of  his  ca- 
nine face,  as  if  in  wonderment  as  to  what  his  chances  were, 
and  whether  or  no  there  would  be  anything  left. 


66  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK    SHOO!  ING 


The  cravings  of  the  inner  man  satisfied,  we  arose  from 
the  table  and  cleared  away  the  dishes,  first  providing  gen- 
erously for  Tramp,  and  then  producing  our  pipes,  we  each 
found  seats  to  our  liking,  and  were  soon  wrapped  in  clouds 
of  fragrant  smoke,  while  Tramp,  having  finished  his  supper, 
proceeded  at  once  to  search  out  the  softest  spot  on  the 
floor  and  was  soon  dozing  contentedly  by  our  side,  dream- 
ing no  doubt  of  immense  flocks  of  ducks,  in  the  capture 
of  which  he  was  to  have  an  honored  share. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


hour  or  two  of  social  chat  before  the  cheer- 
ful  fire>  and  tnen  our  pipes  having  burned  out, 
we  consulted  our  watches  and  found  it  to  be 
already  nearly  eight  o'clock  and  time  for  the 
moon  to  be  in  a  position  to  enable  us  to  take  our 
places  in  the  "  blind."  A  few  minutes  more  and  we  were 
again  encased  in  our  heavy  clothing,  and  then  whistling 
up  Tramp,  who  obeyed  the  call  rather  reluctantly,  much 
preferring  his  cosy  bed  before  the  flre  to  the  chill  night  air 
outside,  after  carefully  extinguishing  the  light,  stepped  out- 
side the  shanty  and  softly  closed  the  door. 

Stepping  from  out  the  shadow  of  the  shanty  into  the 
narrow  path,  and  to  where  through  an  opening  in  the  birch 
and  maples  the  quiet  expanse  of  water  stretched  away  to 
the  farther  shore,  we  found  the  landscape  bathed  in  the 
effulgence  of  the  harvest  moon,  which  now  was  at  its  fall. 
Brushing  aside  the  branches,  wet  and  glistening  with  pearly 
dew,  we  entered  the  "  blind  "  and  received  a  noisy  welcome 
from  the  decoys,  who,  aroused  from  their  lethargy,  set  up 
a  vociferous  quacking  as  if  in  protest  at  being  disturbed 
from  their  evening  slumbers.  Proceeding  to  the  front  of 
the  stand  we  assured  ourselves  that  the  two  decoys  that  had 


68  SCIFATIFIC    DUCK    SHOOTING 


been  left  tied  when  we  went  in  to  supper  were  in  the  ir 
proper  places,  and  then  having  seen  that  the  guns  were  in 
readiness  for  instant  use,  there  was  nothtng  further  left  for 
us  to  do  but  watch  and  wait. 

The  air  was  sharp,  and  frosty,  and  we  soon  found  it 
necessary  to  be  in  motion  to  keep  ourselves  warm  ;  alll  ex- 
cept Tramp,  who,  not  entering  very  heartily  into  the  pro- 
ceedings, curled  himself  up  in  a  ball  on  the  duck  box  and 
went  to  sleep,  leaving  us  to  pace  up  and  down  the  narrow 
confines  of  the  "  blind,"  anon  stopping  to  peer  intently 
through  the  leaves,  now  beginning  to  look  white  with  their 
coating  of  frost,  to  note,  if  possible,  the  first  sign  of  incom- 
ing birds.  Once  we  fancied  we  could  distinguish  the  taint 
quack,  quack  of  a  duck  and  hear  the  light  splash  as  the 
bird  alighted  in  the  water ;  but  we  were  not  successful  in 
bringing  him  to  the  decoys.  We  waited  an  hour  or  two, 
till  the  chill  night  air  cut  into  our  very  bones,  yet  we  were 
not  gladdened  with  the  sight  of  ducks,  though  several  flocks 
of  whistling  coots  passed  high  in  air,  southward  bound. 
We  could  not  see  them,  but  could  distinctly  hear  the  low 
musical  sounds  produced  by  their  wings,  as  in  rapid  flight 
they  swept  onward  towards  the  sunny  south. 

Once,  just  as  we  were  on  the  point  of  leaving  the 
"blind"  for  the  more  comfortable  precincts  of  the  campfire, 
a  wild  duck  passed  us  with  the  speed  of  an  arrow,  his  glossy 
form  and  graceful  outlines  showing  plain  and  distinct  foi 
the  brfef  moment  in  which  he  was  passing  our  narrow  range 
of  vision,  while  in  front  the  silvery  rays  of  the  goddess  of 
night  showed  full  upon  his  fleeting  form.  Quick  as  was  his 


IX    EASTERN    WATERS.  69 


flight,  it  did  not  pass  unobserved,  for  the  decoys  had  be- 
come aware  of  his  pre.sence  before  even  the  practiced  eye 
of  Billy  had  noted  him,  and  sent  forth  upon  the  still  night 
air  a  ringing  challenge,  which  was,  however,  passed  un- 
heeded, for  the  bird  never  swerved  from  its  course,  but 
sped  swiftly  on,  and  was  soon  lost  to  view  in  the  uncertain 
light.  As  we  gazed  after  him,  now  vanished,  we  could  not 
help  applying  to  him  those  beautiful  lines  of  Bryant : 

"Seek'st  thou  the  flashing"  br?nk 

Of  rneady  lake,  or  marge  of  river  wide; 
Or  where  the  rocking  billows  rise  and  sink 
On  the  chafed  ocean  side 

All  day  thy  wings  have  fanned 

At  that  far  height,  the  cold,  thin  atmosphere, 

Yet  stoop  not,  weary,  to  the  welcome  land, 
Though  the  dark  night  is  near." 

Nature,  ever  lavish  of  her  bounties  to  those  who  know 
her  in  her  utmost  solitudes,  reveals  herself  in  many  ways 
and  forms  unknown  to  civilization  and  the  towns.  Upon 
the  sportsman,  and  particularly  the  camper-out,  does  she 
most  generously  bestow  her  varied  charms,  and  in  the  five 
successive  seasons  that  we  camped  beside  these  magnifi- 
cent waters,  we  had  abundant  opportunity  of  not  only  bask- 
ing in  her  most  gracious  smiles,  but  also  of  encountering 
the  several  frowns,  all  of  which,  however  are  now  but 
pleasant  memories,  so  completely  does  time  with  kindly 
fingers  efface  from  our  outings  the  unpleasant  and  disagree- 
able things  of  life,  leaving  only  the  things  joyous  and  bene- 
ficent to  linger  in  our  memories. 

Some  writer,    we  have  forgotten  who,  has  written    of 


70  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK   SHOOTING 

this,  and  remarked  upon  the  fact  that  in  recalling  the  inci- 
dents of  camp  life  in  after  years,  those  things  that  at  the 
time  of  their  occurance  seemed  most  burdensome  and 
threw  a  temporary  chill  and  gloom  over  the  entire  camp 
and  its  occupants,  have  through  the  lapse  of  years  become 
entirely  obliterated,  or  else  remembered  only  to  become 
the  subject  of  jest  and  mirth,  so  thoroughly  imbued  is  the 
true  sportsman  with  the  idea  that  all  discomforts  and  incon- 
veniences are  but  adjuncts  rather  than  hinderances  to  the 
pursuit  of  his  calling,  and  to  be  remembered  only  as  inci- 
dents which  served  to  add  a  zest  and  spice  of  adventure  to 
the  trip  which  otherwise  might  have  become  tame  and  com- 
monplace. This  being  the  case,  it  surely  redounds  greatly 
to  the  credit  of  camp  life  that  it  enables  those  who  become 
a  part  of  its  wholesome  and  mystic  influence  to  treasure  up 
only  that  which  can  be  looked  back  upon  with  the  highest 
satisfaction,  yielding  as  it  does  rich  returns  in  all  that  goes 
to  make  up  the  best  things  of  life. 

Surely  it  was  a  grand,  beautiful  scene  upon  which  we 
were  now  gazing,  preparatory  to  taking  in  the  decoys  and 
seeking  the  warmth  of  the  shanty.  Though  no  ducks  came 
to  reward  our  patient  vigil,  yet  there  was  a  charm  in  the 
surroundings  of  that  moonlit  scene  that  kept  us  chained  to 
the  spot  even  though  the  chill  of  the  keen  October  air  pen  - 
etrated  to  the  very  marrow  of  our  bones.  It  was  the  calm 
that  was  to  precede  the  storm,  though  one  would  have 
looked  in  vain  for  any  sign  of  a  gale  or  tempest  in  the  lim- 
pid surface  of  the  lake  that  reflected  in  all  its  beauty  the 
moonbeams'  mellow  rays,  or  in  the  starlight  overhead  where 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  71 

hardly  a  cloud  could  be  traced  in  all  that  expanse  of  silvery 
space.  It  seemed  as  though 

"All  heaven  and  earth  are  still: 

From  the  high  host  of  stars  to  the  lulled  lake  and  montain  coast, 
All  is  concentrated  in  a  life  intense." 

We  linger  till  the  chiming  of  a  bell  far  off  in  the  belfry  of  a 
village  church  warns  us  that  if  we  are  to  be  on  hand  at 
four  o'clock  the  next  morning  it  is  time  we  were  getting 
some  needed  rest,  and  then  relieving  the  decoys  from  their 
now  rather  uncomfortable  positions,  we  slowly  wend  our 
way  back  to  the  shanty,  bootless  of  game,  but  having  very 
pleasently  spent  our  first  evening  in  camp.  A  fire  is  quick- 
ly started  and  a  cup  of  coffee  soon  removes  the  chill  to 
which  our  evening  vigil  has  subjected  us,  and  then  seeking 
our  comfortable  blankets  we  are  soon  wrapped  in  the  arms 
of  Morpheus  and  for  a  few  hours  are  oblivious  to  the  out- 
side world. 

The  little  alarm  clock  at  our  side  ringing  out  its  clar- 
ion note  as  the  hour  points  to  four  a.  m.  is  the  first  sound 
that  brings  us  to  consciousness  after  a  most  refreshing 
night's  rest.  Rubbing  open  our  eyes  we  find  Billy  in  the 
act  of  striking  a  light,  and  heroically  overcoming  a  desire 
to  take  a  longer  nap,  we  tumble  out  of  our  bunk  and  into 
the  chill  of  the  grey  dawn,  which  as  yet  has  hardly  made 
its  appearance.  Leaving  us  to  finish  dressing,  Billy,  who  is 
already  enveloped  in  his  great  coat,  proceeds  at  once  to 
the  "blind,"  and  more  from  intuitive  reasoning  than  from 
sight,  for  it  is  a  daak  morning,  manages  to  select  the  right 
decoys  and  get  them  securely  fettered  and  in  their 


72  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK   SHOOTING 

proper  places  at  opposite  corners  of  the  stand  :  and  then 
as  it  will  be  too  dark  to  think  of  shooting  for  at  least  a 
half-hour  yet,  joins  us  in  the  shanty,  where  after  filling  our 
pipes,  we  proceed  to  enjoy  a  smoke,  as  being  the  most 
philosophical  way  of  killing  time  till  the  approaching  God 
of  day  shall  dispel  the  inky  darkness  sufficiently  to  allow 
us  to  see  a  hundred  yards  from  the  shore. 

A  half-hour  thus  spent  and  we  knock  the  ashes  from 
our  pipes  and  extinguishing  the  dim  light  afforded  by  our 
single  oil  lamp,  take  our  guns,  and  closely  followed  by 
Tramp,  wend  our  way  to  the  "blind"  and  are  ready  for 
business.  The  decoys  are  quacking  well,  which  fact,  cou- 
pled with  that  of  our  having  a  lee  shore  and  the  weather 
being  every  way  favorable  for  ducks,  it  being  a  chill,  raw 
northeaster  without  a  very  high  wind,  serves  to  raise  our 
spirits  to  a  buoyant  pitch,  as  peering  cautiously  through  the 
"blind"  we  await  with  joyous  expectancy  the  anticipated 
shot.  Even  Tramp  shares  in  the  exhilaration,  and  wags 
his  tail  gleefully,  looking  up  into  our  faces  with  intelligence 
depicted  in  every  canine  feature,  his  great  brown  eyer  rov- 
ing wistfully  about  in  the  direction  of  the  lake  and  ears 
alert  to  catch  the  faintest  sound.  The  very  air  means 
ducks  and  he  knows  it. 

With  the  first  grey  streak  of  dawn  there  came  the 
rustling  of  wings  followed  by  a  light  splash  directly  in 
front  of  us,  and  Billy,  quickly  turning  the  glass  towards 
the  sound,  utters  a  whispered  word  of  caution,  and  calling 
me  to  his  side  hands  us  the  glass,  at  the  same  time  indica- 
ting with  his  hand  the  place  where  the  ducks  are.  In  a 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  73 

moment  we  have  the  glass  at  a  proper  focus  and  have  lo- 
cated the  birds,  which  on  close  investigation  prove  to  be  a 
fair-sized  bunch  of  black  ducks,  there  being  some  ten  or  a 
dozen  birds,  as  near  as  we  can  count  them,  an  exceedingly 
hard  thing  to  do  in  the  imperfect  light,  as  they  are  con- 
stantly changing  position.  We  consult  for  a  moment  as  to 
whether  we  shall  try  to  attract  their  attention  by  throwing 
decoys  or  wait  for  them  to  swim  in  of  their  own  accord,  it 
being  as  yet  hardly  light  enough  to  shoot  to  good  advan- 
tage, when  the  birds  suddenly  decide  the  question  for  us 
by  taking  wing  and  after  making  one  or  two  circles  drop 
down  to  the  decoys  and  within  easy  shooting  distance. 
Throwing  our  guns  quickly  to  our  shoulders,  each  covering 
all  the  birds  he  can,  we  fire,  together  killing  five,  Billy  hav- 
ing the  good  luck  to  secure  a  pair  with  the  second  barrel 
while  they  are  in  the  air.  This  result,  while  not  altogether 
satisfactory,  is  as  well  as  we  could  expect  under  the  circum- 
stances, the  branches  of  the  overhanging  trees  with  which 
the  shore  of  the  lake  is  lined,  forming  a  very  dark  back- 
ground from  which  to  shoot  early  in  the  morning.  Had  it 
been  light  enough  to  have  enabled  us  to  watch  the  move- 
ments of  the  ducks  more  closely  and  to  have  found  our 
sights  more  readily,  doubtless  we  could  have  done  better ; 
but  we  were  not  disposed  to  be  in  a  very  critical  mood  with 
Tramp  bringing  in  five  dead  ducks,  though  there  always  is 
a  sort  of  mystery  hanging  about  the  birds  that  get  away, 
and  we  are  all  of  us  prone  to  fall  into  moralizing  about  it 
and  to  explain  just  how  it  was  done,  and  how  easy  it  would 
have  been  to  have  killed  them  all  if  we  had  only  done  thus 


74  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK    SHOOTING 

and  so.  Of  course  this  all  happens  after  the  birds  have  got 
away  and  not  before  the  shot  is  made. 

We  remain  in  the  ublind"  till  after  nine  o'clock,  but 
do  not  secure  another  shot,  though  several  flocks  art  sight- 
ed. The  sun  has  now  mounted  high  in  the  heavens,  dispel- 
ling in  a  measure  the  wintry  chill  of  the  previous  hours, 
though  constant  exercise  is  still  needed  to  keep  ourselves 
warm  after  having  been  exposed  for  five  long  hours  to  the 
morning  air.  Visions  of  sundry  cups  of  hot  steaming 
coffee,  coupled  with  a  substantial  breakfast,  also  began  to 
dawn  upon  us  as  being  the  one  thing  most  needful  to  our 
comfort  at  this  particular  time,  and  as  the  ducks  do  not 
seem  to  be  flying  our  way  we  soon  leave  the  stand  and 
seek  the  shelter  of  the  camp  and  busy  ourselves  with  the 
preparation  of  breakfast,  which  is  soon  served  and  par- 
taken of  with  that  relish  that  only  comes  of  appetites  whet- 
ted and  sharpened  by  exercise  in  the  open  air  in  the  pur- 
suit of  healthful  and  exhilarating  sport.  Breakfast  being 
over  we  repair  once  more  to  the  stand  and  let  the  decoys 
all  go  out  for  a  bath  ;  after  which  they  are  driven  in  to 
their  snug  quarters  and  fed,  and  as  our  stock  of  provisions 
is  running  low  we  decide  to  make  a  trip  to  the  village  for 
the  purpose  of  replenishing  them. 

Locking  up  the  camp  we  are  soon  afloat  and  making 
good  headway  as  the  light  boat  under  the  impetus  given  it 
by  Billy's  strong  arms  bowls  merrily  along  over  the  dancing 
waves.  When  about  half  way  across  to  the  farther  shore 
where  we  are  to  make  our  landing  we  discover  some  two 
hundred  yards  ahead  of  us,  a  duck  swimming  leisurely 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  75 


along,  now  and  then  turning  his  head  in  our  direction  to 
see  if  we  are  coming  his  way,  and  on  close  examination 
Billy  pronounces  him  to  be  a  whisteling  coot,  and  from  his 
actions  evidently  wounded. 

As  it  will  not  take  us  much  out  of  our  course  we  re- 
solve on  trying  to  capture  him,  and  seeing  our  gun  is  in 
readinesb  for  instant  use  we  take  a  position  in  the  bow  of 
the  boat,  and  quieting  the  dog,  who,  now  that  the  game  is 
in  sight  is  in  a  state  of  great  perturbation.  Billy  commen- 
ces his  task  of  bearing  down  upon  and  to  the  windward  of 
the  wounded  duck  in  order  to  compel  him  to  give  us  a 
quartering  shot  if  he  attempts  to  fly ;  but  this  wily  denizen 
of  the  upper  air  has  evidently  seen  that  little  trick  tried  be- 
fore, and  raising  himself  in  the  water  to  his  full  height  he 
turns  his  head  towards  us  in  a  defiant  manner  and  with  a 
tremendous  flap  of  his  powerful  wings  sends  a  shower  of 
crystal  spray  dashing  from  his  sleek  and  glossy  coat,  the 
huge  drops  of  water  flashing  in  the  sunlight  like  myriad 
gems ;  then  settling  himself  low  in  the  water  till  his  form  is 
entirely  out  of  sight  and  nothing  is  visible  above  water  but 
his  head  and  long,  out-stretched  neck  he  quickly  turns  and 
swims  away  in  the  opposite  direction  with  the  speed  of  an 
arrow. 

It  takes  Billy  a  miuute  or  so  to  recover  his  stroke  as 
the  boat  which  has  been  making  a  pretty  fair  rate  of  speed 
shoots  by  the  spot  where  but  a  moment  before  we  had  con- 
fidently expected  to  see  the  duck  rise,  and  then  pulling 
the  boat  about  and  heading  her  in  the  direction  of  the 
fleeing  bird  Billy  paused  for  a  moment  to  catch  his  breath 


76  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK   SHOOTING 


and  wipe  the  perspiration  from  his  face,  for  under  the 
bright  rays  of  the  sun  it  was  warm  work,  and  then  casting 
his  eye  out  to  where  upon  the  bright  rippling  surface  of  the 
water  the  duck's  head  could  just  be  discerned  as  with  every 
motion  of  his  feet  and  wings  he  rapidly  lessened  the  dist- 
ance between  us  and  the  boat  he  exclaimed,  ''Well,  you 
don't  deserve  to  be  shot  after  playing  such  a  scaly  trick  as 
that ;  but  if  you  want  to  race  we'll  try  you  for  a  spell  any- 
way," at  the  same  time  giving  way  to  the  oars  with  renewed 
vigor. 

We  had  come  to  the  conclusion  by  this  time  that  the 
duck  was  wing-broken  and  could  not  fly,  else  he  would  not 
have  trusted  entirely  to  his  powers  of  swimming  and  diving 
to  effect  his  escape  ;  but  it  was  all  the  same  to  us.  Our 
blood  was  up  and  we  were  going  to  have  that  duck  or  know 
the  reason  why.  It  was  exhilarating  sport  this  being  pro- 
pelled over  the  water  at  a  speed  that  sent  the  foam  and 
spray  dashing  out  from  under  the  boat's  stern,  leaving  an 
irridescent  wake  far  behind  upon  which  the  sun  danced 
and  shone.  The  gunners  at  the  Annable's  Point  camp  had 
observed  our  strange  tactics  and  were  now  watching  us 
with  their  glassess,  occasionally  sending  across  the  water  a 
shout  of  encouragement,  and  the  fact  that  we  were  observ- 
ed made  us  the  more  anxious  to  succeed  and  we  never 
once  took  our  eyes  off  that  duck  as  under  Billy's  powerful 
strokes  the  boat  bore  rapidly  down  upon  the  quarry  that 
now  seeing  it  was  a  race  for  life  was  making  a  game  fight 
for  it. 

As  we  came  within  shooting  distance,  Billy  slackened 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  77 

the  speed  of  the  boat  somewhat  and  steadied  her  with  the 
oars  as  much  as  possible,  in  order  to  allow  us  a  fair  shot. 
It  was  a  small  mark  to  shoot  at  from  a  rocking  boat,  as  the 
bird  could  not  be  induced  to  expose  anything  but  his  head, 
but  once  in  turning  his  head  to  get  a  better  view  of  us  he 
raised  himself  slightly  from  the  water,  and  taking  a  quick 
aim  we  pulled  the  right  barrel  ;  but  he  was  evidently  wait- 
ing for  that,  and  with  a  motion  like  lightning  dove  at  the 
flash  and  escaped  unhurt.  Waiting  a  moment,  we  saw  him 
come  to  the  surface  but  a  few  rods  away,  and  immediately 
gave  him  the  contents  of  the  left  barrel,  which  started  a 
few  feathers  from  his  back  but  did  not  prevent  him  from 
again  getting  under  water. 

We  waited  some  time  for  his  appearance,  and  when 
we  next  caught  sight  of  him  it  was  at  some  distance  from 
the  boat.  Slipping  in  fresh  shells  we  were  after  him  in- 
stanter,  and  coming  within  range  gave  him  both  barrels  in 
quick  succession  which  raised  a  cloud  of  water  about  him, 
and  again  the  feathers  flew,  but  so  lightning-like  were  his 
movements  that  the  shot  did  not  strike  him  hard  enough  to 
kill  him,  as  he  would  dive  at  the  flash  of  the  gun  and  be 
half  under  water  before  the  shot  reached  him.  We  knew, 
however,  that  he  must  be  badly  hit,  and  we  congratulated 
ourselves  that  on  his  next  appearance  we  would  make  an 
easy  conquest  of  him  ;  but  for  some  reason  he  did  not 
make  his  appearance  in  the  customary  time  we  had  alloted 
to  him,  and  though  we  swept  the  surface  of  the  water  in 
every  direction  looking  for  him,  our  search  was  unrewarded 
and  we  had  about  concluded  that  he  was  dead  and  at  the 


7 8  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK    SHOOTING 


bottom  of  the  lake  entangled  among  the  reeds,  and  had  be- 
gun to  slowly  retrace  our  course  towards  the  landing,  when 
we  suddenly  espied  him  half  way  across  the  lake  and  in 
the  direction  of  the  camp.  As  we  had  already  wasted  near- 
ly an  hour  in  our  fruitless  endeavors  to  capture  him,  we  de- 
cided to  give  him  the  go-by  for  the  present,  not  caring  to 
waste  any  more  time ;  so  with  a  mental  reservation  that  we 
would  pay  our  respects  to  him  later  in  the  day,  we  leisurely 
proceeded  on  our  way  and  were  soon  at  the  landing. 

Pulling  the  boat  high  up  out  of  the  way  of  all  harm, 
we  took  our  guns  and  strolled  away  through  the  woods  in 
the  direction  of  the  village,  which  was  reached  without 
the  occurence  of  any  incident  worthy  of  mention,  we  not 
being  lucky  enough  to  start  any  game  larger  than  a  red 
squirrel,  which  we  passed  contemptuously  by,  not  heeding 
his  saucy  chattering,  though  Tramp,  who  had  an  innate 
fondness  for  squirrels,  was  disposed  to  pay  him  his  re*- 
pects  and  rushed  frantically  around,  all  the  while  barking 
furiously  in  his  vain  endeavors  to  effect  his  capture,  till,  tir- 
ing of  the  sport,  he  gave  up  the  chase  and  joining  us  trot- 
ted along  by  our  side  till  home  was  reached. 

We  enjoyed  an  excellent  game  dinner  and  at  two 
o'clock  commenced  our  return  trip  over  the  well-worn 
trail,  each  laden  with  all  the  provisions  he  could  well  carry. 
On  reaching  the  lake  we  found  the  boat  all  right  just  as 
we  had  left  it,  and  after  stowing  away  our  luggage  in  the 
most  convenient  place  we  could  find,  shoved  off  and  were 
once  more  skimming  oevr  the  dancing  waves  towards  camp. 
When  about  half  the  distance  had  been  covered,  we  began 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  79 


to  look  about  us  to  see  if  we  could  discover  aught  of  our 
old  acquaintance,  the  whisteling  coot,  who  had  led  us  such 
a  lively  chase  during  the  morning's  trip,  and  we  had  not 
looked  long  before  we  discovered  him  dead  ahead  and 
swimming  leisurely  in  the  direction  of  Stony  Point. 

Taking  our  old  position  in  the  bow  we  slipped  a 
couple  of  shells  into  the  breech-loader  determined  to  give 
him  a  shot  if  an  opportunity  presented.  It  soon  became 
apparent  that  we  were  going  to  overtake  him,  as  he  was 
swimming  slowly  while  we  were  making  good  time,  and 
when  about  two-thirds  of  the  way  across,  the  duck  sudden- 
ly dove  and  came  up  within  about  forty  yards  of  the  boat. 
Quickly  sighting  at  his  head,  the  only  spot  about  him  that 
offered  a  shot,  we  fired  the  right  barrel,  and  as  the  smoke 
cleared  away  saw  the  duck  lying  upon  his  back,  stone  dead. 

"A  good  shot,"  said  Billy,  as  the  boat  glided  up  to  the 
place  where  he  lay,  and  reaching  over  the  side  we  picked 
him  up  and  deposited  him  in  the  bottom  of  the  boat.  A 
few  minutes  more  and  the  bow  grated  on  the  pebbles,  and 
once  more  we  were  making  our  camp  as  evening  fell. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


CONCEALING    the    boat   among   the    bushes    that 
lined  the  shore,  we    carried    our    provisions    and 
other  belongings  up  to  camp  and  deposited  them 
in  the  shanty,  Billy  remarking,  as  he  cast  his  eye 
critically  over  the  provisions,    that  "He    guessed 
we  could  stand  it  now  for  a  spell,"  to  which  we  laughingly 
replied  that  "We  would  be  out  again  in  thirty-six  hours  if 
our  appetite  continued  to   improve." 

As  the  weather  now  began  to  look  threatening,  we 
brought  in  all  the  wood  that  we  had  on  hand,  and  having 
completed  this  task,  sat  down  to  have  a  quiet  smoke,  which 
pleasurable  duty  over  we  proceeded  to  the  "blind,"  there 
still  being  an  hour  of  daylight  left  in  which  to  indulge  in 
our  favorite  sport.  A  brisk  wind  was  sweeping  up  the  lake 
and  the  wind  moaned  dismally  through  the  tasselled 
branches  of  the  pines  and  birches  as  we  took  our  accustom- 
ed places  behind  the  barricade  that  intervened  between  us 
and  the  prying  eyes  of  any  feathered  game  that  might 
chance  to  pass  our  way.  A  faint  wreath  of  smoke  indica- 
ted the  spot  where,  snugly  ensconced  within  their  comfort- 
able camp,  the  Annable's  Point  boys  were  busily  engaged 
preparing  supper ;  and  once  in  a  while  we  could  faintly  dis- 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  8 1 


tinguish  the  quacking  of  their  decoys,  though  the  water 
was  fast  becoming  too  rough  to  make  them  discernible,  even 
with  the  glass,  in  the  fast-gathering  gloom  that  was  settling 
down  over  the  landscape,  following  the  shore  along  as  far 
down  as  Bliss's  Point  where  our  friend  Bearse  was  encamped. 
Billy  thought  he  could  see  ducks  in  the  water  just  off 
the  end  of  the  point,  and  even  as  he  was  commenting  upon 
it  we  saw  the  flash,  and  a  moment  later  heard  the  reverber- 
ating roar  of  several  guns,  and,  holding  the  glass  on  the  point 
for  a  few  seconds,  saw  a  boat  put  out  from  shore  to  retrieve 
the  dead  and  wounded,  of  which  there  seemed  to  be  four 
or  five,  as  near  as  we  could  we  judge.  We  watched  the 
boat  till  it  put  back  to  the  shore  and  disappeared  among 
the  shadows,  and  Billy  had  just  remarked  upon  the  advis- 
ability of  taking  in  the  decoys  when  we  were  startled  by  a 
sudden  whistling  of  wings  from  behind,  and  looking  up 
saw  a  pair  of  ducks  in  the  act  of  swooping  down  to  our  de- 
coys. It  was  quick  work,  on  the  part  of  the  ducks,  and  on 
ours.  A  sudden  tumultuous  rush  of  whistling  wings,  as 
with  eager,  outstretched  necks  the  graceful  waterfowl  alight- 
ed to  the  decoys,  the  quick  aim  and  blinding  flash,  and 
roar  of  the  guns,  and  the  game  was  ours.  Looking  around 
for  Tramp,  and  not  seeing  him  anywhere,  we  suddenly  re- 
membered that  we  had  left  him  asleep  on  the  floor  in  the 
shanty  ;  so  running  up  to  camp  we  opened  the  door  and 
was  met  by  his  intelligent  face  looking  inquisitively  up. 
seeming  to  say,  "Do  you  want  me?".  Patting  him  on  the 
head,  we  said,  "Come,  Tramp,  we  have  got  a  pair  of  ducks 
out  here ;  go  get  them,"  and  with  a  bound  he  sprang  past 


82  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK    SHOOTING 

us  in  his  eager  haste,  and  in  a  trice  was  in  the  water,  swim- 
ming bravely  out  to  where  lay  the  ducks,  and  soon  had 
them  both  safely  ashore. 

We  shot  no  more  ducks  that  night,  for  it  was  now  near- 
ly dark,  and  the  air  was  becoming  unusually  chilly  ;  so  tak- 
ing in  the  decoys  and  picking  up  our  ducks,  we  wended  our 
way  to  our  cosy  camp,  and  starting  a  fire  soon  had  the 
coffee  pot  merrily  singing  upon  the  stove,  while  we  busied 
ourselves  with  preparing  supper ;  and  in  the  course  of  half 
an  hour,  having  got  thoroughly  warm  and  rested,  sat  down 
to  a  substantial  repast,  and  partook  of  it  as  only  hungry 
men  in  the  woods  know  how. 

We  usually  fared  pretty  well  in  camp,  especially  just 
after  having  returned  from  a  trip  to  the  village  ;  for  the 
women  folks  at  the  house  always  insisted  on  loading  us 
down  with  the  choicest  as  well  as  the  most  substantial  of 
the  products  of  the  culinary  art,  and  the  meal  to  which  we 
were  now  doing  justice  would  have  graced  the  menu  of  any 
fashionable  city  hotel.  First,  there  was  cold  roast  duck, 
done  to  a  turn,  with  all  its  necessary  adjuncts  of  dressing, 
gravy,  etc.,  flanked  by  a  generous  dish  of  ruddy  cranberry 
sauce ;  then  there  were  generous  slices  of  corned  beef,  with 
slices  of  new-made  bread  and  fresh  creamery  butter,  follow- 
ed by  mince  and  apple  pies,  and  grapes  and  apples,  fresh- 
plucked  from  the  orchards,  in  profusion — surely  not  a  bad 
fare  for  a  camper-out.  For  a  long  time  we  discussed  the 
good  things  so  bountifully  prepared  for  us,  not  forgetting 
Tramp,  to  whom  the  evening  meal  was  always  a  gala  event ; 
and  then  clearing  away  the  things  and  tidying  up  the  camp, 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  83 

we  found  solace  in  the  inevitable  pipes,  and  for  an  hour  or 
so  were  lost  in  clouds  of  fragrant  smoke.  As  our  pipes 
burned  low  Billy  fell  into  a  communicative  mood,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  relate  to  us  many  incidents  connected  with  his 
past  life,  bearing  upon  the  subject  of  fishing  and  shooting, 
to  all  of  which  we  paid  eager  attention ;  for  Billy  is  a  mas- 
ter hand  at  relating  anecdotes  of  this  kind,  and  his  great 
experience  in  these  matters,  covering  as  it  does  a  period  of 
forty  years,  together  with  his  innate  modesty  and  character- 
istic simplicity  of  utterance,  with  no  disposition  to  over- 
draw or  exaggerate  as  he  might  easily  do,  so  great  has  been 
his  field  of  observation,  seem  to  make  the  recital  of  his  ad- 
ventures while  in  pursuit  of  fish  or  fowl  of  surpassing  in- 
terest to  those,  who,  like  the  writer,  are  born  of  "hunters' 
breed  and  blood  "  ;  and  fortunate  indeed  did  we  consider 
ourselves  when  we  could  induce  our  friend  to  relate  to  us 
some  of  his  varied  experiences  by  a  field  and  flood ". 
There  are  but  few  varieties  of  game  but  that  have  at  one 
time  or  another  fallen  to  Billy's  gun,  and  but  few  varieties 
of  the  finny  tribe  that  have  escaped  from  his  seductive 
lures ;  and  whether  his  recital  was  of  quail  shooting,  or  deer 
and  bear  hunting  among  the  swamps  of  South  Carolina,  and 
duck  shooting  among  the  numerous  rice  fields  that  abound 
in  that  sunny  clime,  or  in  pursuit  of  the  gamy  and  tooth- 
some shad  in  their  annual  "run"  up  the  broad  rivers  and 
sounds  of  that  favored  land,  or  whether  at  home  upon  the 
beach  when  the  south  wind  brought  myriads  of  wild  fowl 
from  the  rough  waters  of  Barnstable  Bay  to  the  broad  ex- 
panse of  the  Atlantic,  whose  tides  thundered  upon  the 


84  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK    SHOOTING 

strand  with  deafening  roar  in  the  good  old  days  when  the 
wild  fowl  shooting  at  Centreville  was  at  its  full  height  and 
glory,  and  when  upon  such  a  day  as  we  have  just  described 
the  continuous  roar  of  guns  could  be  heard  in  the  village 
from  dawn  to  sunset,  where  now,  alas,  but  little  shooting  is 
to  be  had,  owing,  presumably,  to  the  defacing  of  the  nat- 
ural scenery  which  in  the  olden  days  invited  rather  thaii  re- 
pelled the  flight  of  the  birds  ;  in  those  days  the  wild  and 
picturesque  bluffs  which  stretched  along  the  eastern  horizon 
were  wooded  with  living  forests  of  noble  oaks  and  stately 
pines,  at  the  base  of  which  flowed  the  great  expanse  of 
Chequaquet  River,  and  down  this  natural  highway  the  birds 
would  speed,  flock  succeeding  flock  in  rapid  succession, 
passing  out  over  the  beach  within  easy  gunshot,  and  afford- 
ing magnificent  and  exciting  sport. 

But  the  innovations  ot  modern  times  have,  in  a  great 
measure,  changed  all  this,  and  where  once  stood  a  stately 
forest  are  now  to  be  seen  summer  cottages,  gaily  decked 
out  in  all  sorts  of  unharmonious  colors  of  plebeian  paint, 
supplemented  by  the  most  fanciful  gewgaws  and  designs  of 
gingerbread  work,  which  to  the  lover  of  art  in  nature  can, 
as  he  beholds  them,  appear  but  as  the  abomination  of  deso- 
lation and  but  a  poor  substitute  for  the  dark,  rich  mantle 
of  living  green  that  once  covered  this  romantic  spot.  No 
wonder  that  the  birds  have  forsaken  their  former  course  of 
flight,  avoiding  it  as  a  pestilence,  either  passing  high  in  the 
air  or  choosing  the  darkness  of  night  in  which  to  make 
their  passage. 

Whether  amid  these  scenes  or  by  the  lovely  expanse 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  85 

of  water  where  we  were  now  encamped,  with  trained  decoys 
or  retrieving  spaniel,  Billy  was  wont  to  make  havoc  among 
the  black  duck  and  blue  bills,  his  stories  always  had  a  pe- 
culiar charm  for  us,  coming  as  they  did  from  the  lips  of  a 
man,  the  best  years  of  whose  life  had  been  spent  amid  the 
scenes  he  so  graphically  described,  and  bringing  with  them 
the  odor  of  the  wild  woods,  the  lake  and  marsh  and 
stream. 

But  of  all  the  many  "yarns"  with  which  Billy  in  his 
gracious  moods  was  wont  to  while  away  the  hours  around 
the  campfire,  there  remains  one  so  singular  and  out  of  com- 
monplace that  it  has  always  retained  a  place  in  our  memory, 
and  for  the  pleasure  it  affords  the  writer,  even  as  much  as 
for  the  benefit  of  the  reader,  we  now  proceed  to  chronicle 
what  we  have  pleased  to  term  the  "  Strange  Story  of  a 
Wild  Goose."  The  wind  howled  dismally  among  the  de- 
nuded branches  of  the  birches,  bringing  with  it  the  far-away 
sound  of  the  mournful  tides  thundering  upon  the  distant 
beach,  and  causing  the  one  window,  that  served  to  illumi- 
nate our  little  cabin  by  day,  to  shake  and  rattle  dubiously, 
as  Billy,  having  arisen  and  replenished  the  fire  and  refilled 
his  pipe,  again  seated  himself,  and  after  smoking  on  for  a 
few  moments  in  silence,  commenced  the  following  narra- 
tive :— 

"  It  was  a  good  many  years  ago.  when  game  was  more 
plentiful  than  it  is  now,  that  I  took  my  gun  one  morning, 
late  in  the  fall,  and  went  down  on  the  beach  in  the  hope  of 
getting  a  shot  at  something  flying  along  the  shore.  Stow- 
ing myself  away  in  the  thick  beach  grass,  I  lay  for  an  hour 


86  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK   SHOOTING 

or  two,  and  failing  to  see  anything  worth  shooting  at  and 
becoming  somewhat  numbed  from  inaction  and  exposure 
to  the  raw  air,  had  about  decided  to  give  it  up  and  return 
home,  and  had  already  started  in  that  direction,  when,  hav- 
ing walked  along  as  far  as  the  wharf,  I  changed  my  mind 
and  decided  to  walk  out  as  far  as  the  end  of  the  pier  and 
take  a  look  out  on  the  Sound. 

"Reaching  the  end  of  the  pier  I  found  it  much  warmer 
and  more  comfortable  than  it  had  been  on  the  beach,  the 
warm  rays  of  the  sun  shining  directly  down  upon  the  plank- 
ing, while  the  fishermen's  houses  seemed  to  break  off  the 
force  of  the  wind. 

"Selecting  the  warmest  corner  I  could  find  I  sat  down 
and  remained  there  several  hours  without  seeing  any  sign 
of  game  more  than  an  occasional  seagull,  too  far  away  to 
think  of  shooting  at,  or  a  loon  diving  and  swimming  along 
at  a  safe  distance  from  the  shore.  Again  I  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  I  might  as  well  go  home,  and  was  on  the 
point  of  leaving,  when  far  out  over  the  water  I  descried  a 
flock  of  birds  coming  directly  towards  me  and  well  up  in 
the  air.  They  were  flying  slowly,  and  it  did  not  take  me 
long  to  make  them  out  as  a  flock  of  Canada  geese  bound 
inland,  probably  in  search  of  fresh  water.  They  were  a  long 
way  off,  and  it  was  some  minutes  before  they  were  near 
enough  to  enable  me  to  observe  them  closely,  and  then  the 
military  precision  of  their  onward  flight,  together  with  the 
oft  repeated  and  well-known  cry  of  the  leader,  left  no  doubt 
as  to  their  identity.  It  was  a  large  flock  flying  close  to- 
gether, and  they  soon  passed  me  high  in  the  air  in  the  di- 


IN   EASTERN   WATERS.  87 


rection  of  the  river.  They  were  too  high  to  shoot,  so  I  let 
them  go,  hoping  to  mark  them  down  at  some  point  along 
the  river,  or  in  some  of  the  numerous  ponds  that  lay  scat- 
tered at  short  intervals  back  in  the  forest.  As  they  ap- 
proached the  river,  however,  they  showed  no  signs  of  low- 
ering their  flight,  and  I  was  just  coming  to  the  conclusion 
that  I  should  have  to  make  a  long  pilgrimage  if  I  was  to 
get  my  Thanksgiving  goose  out  of  that  flock,  when  suddenly 
I  observed  a  confused  fluttering  among  the  flock,  and  then 
as  they  straightened  away  again  on  their  course  one  of  their 
number  was  seen  to  leave  the  flock  and  fall  limp  and  ap- 
parently lifeless  to  the  ground,  while  the  remainder  of  the 
flock  proceeded  on  their  way  unharmed. 

"  To  say  that  I  was  surprised,"  said  Billy,  as  he  paused 
to  light  his  pipe,  which  in  the  narration  of  the  story  he  had 
suffered  to  go  out,  "  would  be  putting  it  mild. 

"  I  had  seen  no  one  shoot,  heard  no  report,  nor  ob- 
served the  smoke  from  any  gun ;  besides,  the  flock  was 
clearly  out  of  range.  What  was  the  matter  with  that  goose  ? 
Taking  my  gun  under  my  arm  and  forgetting  all  about  the 
remainder  of  the  flock,  I  at  once  started  in  the  direction  of 
the  place  where  I  had  last  seen  the  goose,  having  marked 
him  down  in  a  reed  swamp  some  half  a  mile  distant  from 
where  I  was.  My  course  had  led  me  over  the  beach  hills, 
across  the  marshes  and  through  bogs,  till  finally  I  reached 
the  open  fields  where  the  walking  was  good.  I  was  now 
able  to  make  much  better  time,  and  in  a  few  minutes  I 
reached  the  woods  that  bordered  on  the  outskirts  of  the 
swamp  where  I  had  seen  the  bird  fall. 


88  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK    SHOOTING 


"Crossing  the  narrow  belt  of  timber,  I  plunged  into 
the  network  of  tangled  grapevines  and  brakes  of  which  the 
swamp  was  composed,  with  some  misgivings  as  to  the  re- 
sult, as  I  could  hardly  bring  myself  to  believe  that  the  goose 
had  actually  been  killed,  and  if  only  wounded,  which  I 
reasoned  was  the  far  more  plausible  theory,  it  would  be 
like  hunting  for  a  needle  in  a  haystack  to  find  him,  so  many 
were  the  chances  of  concealment ;  but  floundering  on 
through  muck  and  mire,  now  wound  up  in  a  giant  grape- 
vine and  extricating  myself  only  to  step  into  a  boghole  or 
be  caught  in  a  bunch  of  briers,  whose  sharp  thorns  pro- 
truded at  every  point,  I  at  last  reached  a  comparatively 
dry  and  open  spot,  and  there,  lying  at  the  foot  of  a  young 
pine,  was  the  prize  I  sought. 

Stepping  up  to  him  I  perceived  that  he  was  alive,  yet  he 
made  no  effort  to  escape  ;  and  quickly  producing  from  my 
pocket  a  stout  cord  I  securely  fettered  him  without  his 
making  the  slightest  resistance,  he  looking  on  all  the  while 
in  a  sort  of  dazed  fashion.  Finding  a  more  desirable  path 
than  the  one  by  which  I  had  entered,  I  left  the  swamp, 
carrying  my  prize  carefully.  In  vain  I  examined  him  with 
a  view  to  finding  upon  his  body  some  marks  of  violence  or 
wounds  of  remote  or  recent  date,  but  could  find  none,  and 
reached  home  without  having  come  to  any  conclusion 
whatever  in  regard  to  his  strange  behavior.  I  kept  him 
alive  fora  few  days,  tied  in  the  yard,  the  centre  of  observa- 
tion for  all  the  neighbors  round  about ;  and  when  on  the 
advent  of  Thanksgiving  day  we  prepared  him  for  the  na- 
tional feast,  he  was  found  on  being  spiced  to  have  no  shot 


IN    EASTERN   WATERS.  89 


marks  upon  him,  and  to  be  as  fine  and  plump  and  fat  a 
yearling  goose  as  ever  rewarded  a  happy  hunter. 

"  I  have  but  one  theory  to  offer,"  said  Billy  in  con- 
clusion, "and  that  is  based  on  a  tradition  among  old  hunt- 
ers of  which  I  have  heard  my  father  speak,  that  geese  in 
flying  would  sometimes  crowd  each  other  so  that  the  beat- 
ing of  their  powerful  wings  would  detach  a  quill  feather 
from  the  wing  of  some  luckless  companion,  which  would 
cause  him  to  lose  his  balance  and  fall,  and,  overcome  with 
pain  and  fright,  would  imagine  himself  much  more  seriously 
hurt  than  what  he  really  was,  and  continue  falling  until  he 
reached  the  ground,  where  he  would  become  an  easy  prey 
to  the  hunter  who  happened  to  be  near  the  spot  at  the  time, 
the  shock  of  the  fall  serving  for  the  moment  to  make  him 
apparently  unconscious  and  oblivious  of  his  surroundings, 
unless  perchance  his  downward  plunge  should  happen  to 
land  him  in  his  native  element,  when  he  would  soon  revive 
and  regaining  the  use  of  his  faculties  wonld  again  mount 
high  in  air,  and  later  on  rejoin  the  flock ;  but  whether  this 
theory  is  correct  or  not,  I  am  not  prepared  to  say,  never 
having  had  further  opportunity  of  investigation/' 

Thus  ended  one  of  the  most  remarkable  incidents  ever 
related  to  the  writer,  though  we  have  heard  many  both  be- 
fore and  since,  and  have  had  abundant  opportunity  of  ob- 
serving many  strange  incidents  both  afield  and  afloat. 
Perhaps  some  of  our  readers  wno  have  followed  us  thus  far 
and  who  have  enjoyed  a  wider  and  more  extended  field  of 
observation,  will  find  something  in  their  own  experience 
afield  similar  to  that  which  is  narrated  here. 


9O  SCIENTIFIC    DIVK.    SI  K  K  >TI\(i 


The  storm,  which  had  been  long  delayed,  now  came 
on  rapidly  and  with  an  intensity  that  boded  us  no  good  for 
the  morrow.  Our  fire  was  out  and  a  damp  chill  was  fast 
pervading  the  entire  atmosphere  of  the  room  ;  besides,  our 
pipes  were  finished  and  the  hour  was  late.  So,  having 
fastened  the  one  entrance  to  our  forest  camp, — as  Billy  fa- 
cetiously remarked,  to  keep  out  the  tramps,  though  it  would 
have  been  an  exceeding  hard  tramp  for  any  tramp  to  ru.ve 
reached  us  in  that  storm, — we  were  soon  rolled  in  our 
blankets  and  listening  to  the  wind  screaming  and  whistling 
through  the  branches  above  our  heads  and  to  the  wild  roar 
of  the  waters  surrounding  our  camp,  now  lashed  into  fuiy 
by  the  violence  of  the  wind,  which  ever  and  anon  would 
scoop  up  whole  volumes  of  the  angry  flood  and  dash  them 
against  the  side  of  the  shanty  as  if  determined  to  break  in 
upon  us  ;.  but  we  were  used  to  scenes  like  this,  and  instead 
of  frightening  us  it  only  served  to  lull  us  into  a  dreamy  re- 
pose, from  which  we  did  not  awake  till  well  along  towards 
daylight ;  and,  then,  finding  that  the  storm  had  in  no  way 
abated  its  violence,  and  that  it  would  be  the  height  of  folly 
to  attempt  to  decoy  in  such  a  storm  as  was  now  raging,  we 
by  common  consent  drew  our  blankets  more  closely  abcut 
us  and  proceeded  to  enjoy  a  morning  nap,  the  first  one  in 
which  we  had  been  privileged  to  indulge  while  in  camp,  as 
on  all  the  preceding  mornings  we  had  been  awake  and 
stirring  by  four  o'clock. 

It  was  seven  o'clock  when  we  next  awoke  ;  and,  sur- 
prised to  find  the  hour  so  late,  we  lost  no  time  in  getting 
dressed  and  starting  a  fire.  The  wind  had  gone  down  some 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  91 


during  the  past  few  huiirs,  so  we  decided  to  venture  out 
into  the  stand  and  see  how  things  looked  out  there.  We 
found  the  stand  in  fairly  good  condition,  the  wind  having 
done  it  no  particular  damage  except  to  shake  off  some  of  the 
dryest  of  the  leaves,  a  defect  which  could  soon  be  remedied 
when  the  weather  became  sufficiently  settled  to  allow  us  to 
work  out  of  doors  in  comfort.  The  water  was  very  rough, 
but  we  decided  on  putting  out  a  couple  of  decoys,  as  the 
rain  began  to  let  up  some  and  we  were  anxious  for  a  shot. 
The  minute  they  were  anchored,  however,  it  became  evi- 
dent that  they  could  not  be  kept  out  a  great  while,  as  the 
waves  broke  over  them  savagely,  causing  them  to  tuck  their 
heads  under  their  wings  and  settle  down  in  the  water,  ut- 
terly refusing  to  quack  and  evidently  badly  frightened. 

Untoward  as  were  the  circumstances,  however,  we 
were  destined  not  to  be  wholly  without  success,  for  a  mon- 
ster Indian  goose,  weighing,  we  should  judge,  at  least  ten 
pounds,  came  flying  up  the  lake,  and  seeing  our  decoys  and 
having  a  morbid  curiosity  to  interview  them  closer,  alighted 
about  a  hundred  yards  distant  from  us,  and  having  satisfied 
himself  that  everything  was  all  right,  which  was  the  greatest 
mistake  he  ever  made  in  his  life,  swam  in  within  easy  gun- 
shot, and  never  swam  out  again.  This  was  the  only  game 
bagged  and  the  only  shot  we  had,  for  the  wind  now  began 
to  increase  in  force  and  the  rain  to  come  down  in  torrents ; 
so,  hastily  taking  in  and  housing  the  decoys  and  picking 
up  our  whilom  goose,  we  gladly  sought  the  shelter  of  the 
camp,  somewhat  wet  and  cold  and  a  good  deal  hungry. 

The  grateful  warmth  of  the  fire,  however,  soon  dis- 


92  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK    SHOOTING 

pelled  the  chill  and  dried  the  dampness  from  our  steaming 
garments,  while  a  substantial  breakfast,  with  the  pleasing 
adjunct  of  plenty  of  hot  coffee,  served  to  satisfy  the  crav- 
ings of  the  inner  man,  and  after  that  there  was  nothing  to 
do  but  wait  for  the  storm  to  clear ;  but  as  hour  after  hour 
passed  on  without  any  sign  of  its  abating,  the  situation  be- 
gan to  grow  monotonous  in  the  extreme. 

We  had  no  reading  matter,  and,  besides,  our  stock  of 
firewood  was  low,  and  we  dared  not  exhaust  it,  not  knowing 
how  long  the  storm  might  last ;  and  though  the  camp  was 
beginning  to  get  damp  and  chilly,  we  knew  that  it  was  bet- 
ter to  suffer  some  discomfort  now  than  to  be  without  fire 
at  dinner  time  or  at  night ;  for  unless  there  should  be  a 
sudden  change  in  the  weather  we  should  not  be  able  to 
leave  camp  at  all  for  the  day. 

We  amused  ourselves  for  awhile  by  watching  the  gulls 
that  were  swarming  into  the  upper  part  of  the  lake,  where 
a  flock  of  several  hundred  soon  congregated,  breasting  the 
large  waves,  apparently  unconcerned  at  the  roughness  of 
the  water.  Tiring  of  this  and  with  watching  the  breakers 
roll  in  upon  the  foam-flecked  beach,  we  turned  anxiously 
to  the  clock,  noting  the  minutes  as  they  dragged  themselves 
slowly  away,  for  Billy  had  prophisied  that  on  the  noontide 
the  wind  would  probably  go  down. 

Twelve  o'clock  came,  but  with  it  no  abatement  of  the 
storm,  the  wind  seeming  to  blow  fiercer  than  ever  and  the 
rain  to  literally  pour  down  in  floods.  We  prepared  our 
dinner  without  the  aid  of  a  fire,  preferring  to  save  our  scant 
supply  of  fuel  till  evening.  This  necessitated  our  going 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  93 

without  coffee,  but  water  was  to  be  had  in  abundance,  and 
we  managed  to  get  along  very  well  on  that. 

Our  frugal  repast  soon  ended,  we  spent  a  social  half- 
hour  or  so  in  smoking  and  chatting  together  and  listening 
to  the  fierce  gusts  of  wind  that  threatened  every  minute  to 
strip  the  entire  covering  of  branches  from  off  our  roof, 
which  if  carried  into  effect  meant  lots  of  hard  work  for  us ; 
for  the  only  implement  we  possessed  with  which  to  put 
them  back  again  or  to  cut  new  ones  with  was  a  small  shin- 
gling hatchet,  and  dull  at  that,  and,  besides,  the  branches 
had  already  become  so  denuded  of  their  foliage  that  we 
doubted  much  as  to  their  being  of  any  value  by  the  time 
the  storm  was  over.  It  was  therefore  in  a  not  very  aimable 
frame  of  mind  that  we  listened  to  the  howling  and  shriek- 
ing of  the  gale,  which  at  one  o'clock  seemed  to  have  taken 
a  fresh  hold,  and  bade  fair  to  outdo  all  its  previous  efforts 
of  the  morning.  As  the  monotony  of  the  thing  grew  upon 
us  we  began  to  feel  sleepy,  and  at  two  o'clock,  the  storm 
still  raging  as  hard  as  ever,  we  turned  in,  hoping  to  secure 
an  hour  or  two  of  sleep,  and  was  immediately  followed  by 
Tramp,  who  curled  himself  up  close  beside  us  and  was  soon 
snoring  contentedly.  We  lay  awake  some  minutes  listen- 
ing to  the  battling  of  the  elements  and  chaffing  back  and 
forth  with  Billy,  who  was  still  puffing  away  at  his  pipe,  and 
then  we  too  fell  asleep. 

We  were  awakened  about  three  o'clock  or  a  little  after 
by  Billy  coming  into  the  room  wrapped  in  his  big  coat, 
who  imparted  the  joyful  intelligence  that  the  weather  was 
clearing,  and  that  he  had  been  out  to  the  "  blind  "  and 


94  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK    SHOOTING 


righted  things  up  a  little,  and  that  the  storm  had  not  done 
any  serious  damage  beyond  what  we  could  repair  in  an 
hour  or  two  the  next  day  ;  also  that  he  had  seen  what  ap- 
peared to  be  a  large  flock  of  black  ducks  alight  in  the 
lake  several  hundred  yards  to  the  windward  of  the  camp. 

Taking  the  field  glass,  Billy  again  disappeared  outside 
the  shanty,  returning  a  few  minutes  later  with  the  informa- 
tion that  the  ducks  could  now  be  plainly  seen,  and  that 
they  were  swimming  in  our  direction.  We  decided  at  once 
to  get  into  the  "  blind  "  and  try  our  luck  in  putting  out  the 
decoys ;  for  if  the  wind  kept  on  diminishing  in  force  we 
should  soon  have  a  comparatively  Ice  shore.  We  got  out 
of  the  shanty  as  quietly  as  possible,  and  crept  along  the 
narrow  path  that  led  to  the  "  blind  "  not  daring  to  show 
our  heads  above  the  bushes  that  lined  our  way,  as  the  ducks 
were  now  directly  in  range  ;  and  reaching  the  "  blind,"  fet- 
tered two  of  the  decoys  and  managed  to  get  them  out  into 
the  water,  and  by  throwing  stones  at  them  would  get  an  oc 
casional  quack  out  of  them,  more  from  anger,  we  presume 
than  from  any  other  cause.  It  was  decoying  under  diffi- 
culties, but  anything  that  had  an  element  of  sport  or  excite- 
ment in  it  was  better  than  this  enforced  idleness  of  the  past 
few  hours,  and  we  welcomed  the  change,  whatever  might 
be  the  result.  By  turning  the  field-glass  upon  the  '•  blind" 
at  Annable's  Point,  we  could  see  that  the  waves  were  break- 
ing clear  over  the  top,  thus  barring  out  the  gunners 
there  from  indulging  in  any  shooting  for  the  present. 
Bliss's  Point  and  Coleman's  Island  were  apparently  de- 
serted, and  we  were  left  sole  possessors  of  the  field,  or 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  95 


more  properly  speaking  the  flood.  As  the  ducks  swam 
slowly -up  the  lake,  every  minute  bringing  them  nearer  our 
position,  it  soon  became  apparent  that  they  had  seen  our 
decoys,  and  once  the  whole  flock  headed  towards  us  and 
for  a  few  moments  swam  steadily  in  our  direction,  causing 
our  hopes  to  soar  high  in  anticipation  of  the  coveted  shot. 
Then  they  suddenly  became  suspicious  and  turned  off.  We 
threw  a  couple  of  birds  from  the  stand,  hoping  to  allay 
their  fears,  which  as  soon  as  they  struck  the  water,  with 
great  presence  of  mind  deliberately  swam  ashore  and 
crawled  up  in  the  bushes.  This  was  rather  more  than  we 
could  submit  to  tamely,  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  a 
large  flock  of  ducks  was  within  two  hundred  yards  of  us 
though  we  doubt  not  the  provocation  on  the  part  of  the 
birds  in  acting  as  they  did  was  great ;  and  we  sent  a.  shower 
of  stones  and  invectives  after  them  in  a  vain  attempt  to 
drive  them  back  into  the  water ;  but  what  we  could  not  ac- 
complish, Tramp  could,  and  taking  in  the  situation  at  a 
glance,  he  darted  past  us  out  of  the  "  blind  "  and  along  the 
shore  into  the  bushes  where  the  offending  deeoys  lay  con- 
cealed, and  drove  the:n  p^rfjrce  into  their  native  element, 
where  they  remained,  having  caught  sight  of  their  wild 
brethren,  and  immediately  began  challenging  them  to  a 
closer  acquaintance. 

The  next  few  moments  were  passed  between  alternat- 
ing hope  and  fears,  as  the  ducks  were  now  apparently  hold- 
ing a  consultation  as  to  whether  they  should  interview  us 
more  closely  or  not.  It  was  evident  that  they  would  not 
remain  much  longer  where  they  were,  as  the  water  was  too 


96  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK    SHOOTING 


rough.  It  was  a  critical  moment,  and  we  threw  decoys  at 
short  intervals  until  the  last  one  was  out  of  the  box.  As 
the  last  bird  touched  the  water  a  portion  of  the  flock  sepa- 
rated from  their  companions  and  flew  straight  in  for  the 
decoys  and  alighting  some  fifty  yards  distant,  swam  up  to 
the  windward  side  of  the  "  blind,"  but  finding  the  water  too 
rough  to  draw  in  to  the  decoys  from  that  side,  allowed 
themselves  to  gradually  drift  to  leeward,  giving  us  a  very 
fair  quartering  shot  as  they  came  in,  considering  the  rough- 
ness of  the  water.  There  were  about  a  dozen  birds  in  the 
bunch,  and  our  nerves  were  strung  to  the  highest  pitch  of 
excitement  and  enthusiasm  as  simultaneously  our  guns  rang 
out  in  one  long,  reverberating  report.  Through  the  smoke 
that  wafted  upward  we  caught  a  momentary  glimpse  of 
vanishing  forms,  and  again  the  breech-loaders  rang  out 
their  clarion  notes,  but  failed  to  score,  though  as  the  smoke 
rolled  away  we  found  that  we  had  stopped  five  at  the  first 
discharge,  which  was  not  so  bad.  Tramp  retrieved  the 
ducks  for  us,  breasting  the  dashing  waves  in  gallant  style 
until  he  had  laid  the  last  of  our  trophies  at  our  feet.  We 
now  turned  our  attention  to  the  decoys,  and  got  them  all 
in  and  safely  housed  by  exercising  considerable  patience 
with  them,  as  the  dashing  of  the  spray  on  the  beach  tended 
to  make  them  wild.  This  duty  attended  to  we  repaired  to 
the  shanty  and  consulted  as  to  whether  we  should  remain 
in  camp  over  night  or  attempt  to  cross  the  lake  in  the 
boat. 

We  were  not  in  the  best  of  shape  for  spending  a  com- 
fortable night  in  camp,  owing  to  our  scarcity  of  firewood 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  97 


and  the  fact  that  the  weather  was  clearing  to  the  northwest 
and  bade  fair  to  be  cold  before  morning ;  besides  our  larder 
needed  replenishing,  and  we  knew  the  folks  at  home  would 
be  somewhat  anxious  about  us.  Billy  was  the  sailor,  so  we 
deferred  to  his  judgment  in  all  matters  concerning  wind 
and  weather ;  and  after  carefully  noting  the  aspect  of  the 
sky  and  water  he  finally  decided  that  it  was  bafe  enough  to 
make  the  passage,  and  that  if  we  were  going  we  ought  to 
get  an  early  start.  Our  preparations  were  soon  made,  and 
locking  up  the  camp  we  went  down  to  the  shore  to  the 
spot  where  we  had  left  the  boat,  and  found  her  all  right 
with  the  exception  of  being  about  half  full  of  water  from 
the  effects  of  the  rainstorm  through  which  we  had  just 
passed.  A  vigorous  use  of  the  bailer  served  to  lighten  her 
to  that  extent  where  our  combined  efforts  enabled  us  to  tip 
her  sufficiently  to  allow  the  rest  of  the  water  to  escape,  and 
then  righting  her  we  stowed  away  our  luggage,  and  launch- 
ing her,  jumped  in,  with  Billy  at  the  oars,  and  were  scud- 
ding away  towards  the  distant  shore  before  a  fresh  north- 
west breeze. 

We  found  the  water  smoother  than  we  had  anticipated, 
and,  guided  and  propelled  by  Billy's  powerful  strokes,  the 
boat  went  along  at  a  good  rate  of  speed,  and  just  as  the 
sun  was  sinking  behind  the  western  hilltops  we  ran  in  under 
the  lee  of  Coleman's  Island,  and  a  few  minutes  later 
reached  the  shore.  Leaving  the  boat  so  that  we  should  be 
sure  to  find  it  all  right  in  the  morning,  we  picked  up  our 
game,  and  shouldering  our  guns  walked  up  to  the  village, 
where  we  found  our  friends  anxiously  awaiting  our  arrival. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


ad  a&reed  on  separating,  for  the  night  that 
unless  the  weather  should  prove  mild  in  the 
morning  we  would  not  make  an  early  start 
back  to  camp  but  would  wait  until  late  in 
the  forenoon  which  would  give  us  time  to  take  things  easy 
on  the  return  trip  and  still  get  into  camp  in  time  for  the 
afternoon  flight  of  ducks,  if  indeed  we  were  fortunate  en- 
ough to  get  a  flight,  the  wind  having  blown  from  the  east 
so  long  and  with  such  violence  that  Billy  was  not  very  san- 
guine as  to  our  chances  being  very  good  for  getting  any 
good  shooting  for  at  least  a  day  or  two,  as  any  flight  of 
ducks  caught  in  the  wake  of  the  storm  would  very  likely 
have  gone  by,  and  in  such  a  case  we  might  have  to  wait 
days  before  having  any  luck  at  all.  It  was  therefore  with 
not  very  buoyant  feelings  that  we  awoke  next  morning  to 
the  sound  of  rain  beating  against  the  windows,  accompanied 
by  the  same  boisterous  wind  that  had  greeted  our  ears  for 
so  many  hours.  It  was  the  same  old  northeaster,  having 
abated  a  little  of  its  fury  the  preceding  evening  only  to 
take  a  fresh  hold  in  the  morning.  Our  acquaintance  with 
this  kind  of  weathei  along  the  Cape  Cod  coast  told  us  that 
we  would  not  look  for  any  propitious  time  in  which  to 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  99 

cross  the  lake  unless  it  be  late  in  the  afternoon  or  evening, 
and  then  the  chances  were  against  us,  owing  to  the  heavy 
sea  which  would  be  undoubtedly  running,  making  it  ex- 
ceedingly risky  for  two  men  to  attempt  to  make  the  pas- 
sage in  a  small  boat.  We  therefore  endeavored  to  take  a 
nhilosophical  view  of  the  situation  and  attempt  to  get  some 
sleep  of  which  we  rather  stood  in  need  at  this  time.  Sleep- 
ing, however,  soon  becomes  monotonous  to  one  who  has 
only  a  short  vacation  and  is  bent  on  shooting  ducks,  and  so 
we  found  it,  and  after  a  late  breakfast  we  looked  about  us 
for  some  more  active  pursuit  with  which  to  engage  the  time 
until  the  storm  should  have  spent  its  force,  but  the  field  of 
operations  was  limited  in  the  extreme  and  we  were  fain  to 
remain  indoors  and  chafe  impatiently  at  the  delay  and  be- 
rate our  illfortune.  What  made  it  more  exasperating,  was 
the  fact  that  our  time  was  limited  to  a  few  days,  and  had 
everything  worked  favorably  during  the  previous  days  we 
should  now  have  been  ready  to  go  home,  as  it  was  we  were 
dissatisfied  and  not  ready  to  give  it  up  without  making  a 
good  bag  of  ducks.  Several  times  during  the  day  we  were 
on  the  point  of  packing  up  and  taking  the  train  for  home, 
as  the  storm  seemed  rather  to  increase  in  violence  instead 
of  abating ;  but  we  finally  compromised  the  affair  by  tele- 
graphing regarding  the  advisability  of  staying  a  few  days 
longer,  and  getting  a  favorable  reply  our  spirits  rose  some- 
what. 

The  boys  being  better  provided  with  waterproof  cloth- 
ing than  we,  started  out  towards  noon  on  a  turtle  hunt  in 
the  neighboring  swamps,  and  returned  later  in  the  day 


100  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK    SHOOTING 


pretty  thoroughly  wet  and  bedraggled,  having  had  lots  of 
fun,  and  bringing  with  them  one  large  turtle  as  a  trophy. 
The  turtle  furnished  us  with  some  amusement  by  his  un- 
gain  movements  and  sulky  disposition,  showing  a  disposi- 
tion to  snap  at  and  devour  everything  that  came  within  his 
reach.  He  was  off  his  native  heath  and  seemed  instinc- 
tively to  know  that  he  was  surrounded  by  enemies.  We 
did  not  care  to  cultivate  his  acquaintance  too  closely  as  he 
was  an  ugly  looking  chap,  though  invited  by  the  boys  to 
lift  him  up  by  the  tail  and  put  our  fingers  in  his  mouth,  and 
do  sundry  other  things  boys  delight  to  see  someone  else  do. 
There  is  an  old  saying  among  turtle  hunters  that  if  you  put 
your  finger  in  one's  mouth  the  turtle  will  not  let  go  until 
it  thunders ;  as  this  was  not  just  the  season  for  thunder 
showers  we  concluded  to  give  the  turtle  the  benefit  of  the 
doubt,  fearing  that  we  should  have  to  wait  too  long  before 
arriving  at  a  satisfactory  conclusion  ;  if,  however,  any  of 
our  readers  desire  to  make  the  test  they  can  no  doubt  find 
opportunities  in  which  to  satisfy  there  curiosity. 

The  first  signs  of  clearing  weather  came  about  three 
o'clock,  and  in  the  course  of  another  hour  the  sun  was 
shining  and  the  last  of  the  storm  clouds  were  scudding 
away  before  a  fresh  northwest  breeze.  Starting  across  the 
fields  to  Billy's  house  we  found  him  making  active  prepara- 
tions for  a  start  back  to  camp  early  in  the  evening,  so  hast- 
ening home  again  we  partook  of  an  early  supper,  and  hav- 
ing supplied  ourselves  with  provisions  enough  to  last  us  for 
two  or  three  days,  again  started  campward,  picking  up 
Billy  and  his  faithful  dog  Tramp  on  the  way.  We  reached 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  IOI 

the  shore  of  the  lake  just  as  the  moon  was  shedding  a  mel- 
low radiance  over  lake  and  wood,  and  causing  the  dew- 
drops  on  the  maples  and  birches  that  lined  the  shore,  to 
glisten  like  gems  of  the  purest  water.  W,e,  stopped  a  few 
moments  to  enjoy  the  quiet  scene  spread  o^t»beibre  us'and 
to  rest  ourselves  somewhat  from  our  long.  tra;n.if>,  and  tben 
gathering  a  good  supply  of  firewood \  with -which  the  s/hore 
was  plentifully  sprinkled,  we  placed  our  belongings  in  the 
light  skiff  and  with  Billy  at  the  oars  pushed  out  from  shore 
and  shaped  our  course  for  Stony  Point.  The  lake  was 
smooth,  hardly  a  ripple  to  mar  its  surface,  all  trace  of  the 
storm,  which  but  a  few  hours  befone  had  swept  its  surface 
with  such  violence,  having  entirely  disappeared,  so  that 
under  the  impetus  of  Billy's  powerful  strokes  we  soon  made 
the  opposite  shore,  and  running  well  in  under  the  over- 
hanging mantle  of  green,  skirted  the  shore  along  for  several 
rods,  until  the  white  silvery  beach  of  Stony  Point  loomed 
up  ghostly  in  the  moonlight  before  us,  when  a  quick  turn 
of  the  paddle  sent  the  light  boat  to  land.  It  was  but  the 
work  of  a  few  minutes  to  unload  and  carry  up  to  the  shanty 
our  light  cargo,  and  then  hastily  concealing  the  boat  we 
hastened  inside  the  camp  and  had  a  roaring  fire  going, 
over  which  we  brewed  steaming  cups  of  savory  coffee,  which 
served  to  dissipate  the  chill  and  frost  which  somehow  had 
crept  into  our  bones  during  our  moonlight  trip  across  the 
lake.  After  that  a  social  pipe  and  then  the  inevitable  story 
telling  with  which  our  friend  always  regaled  us,  and  which 
we  looked  forward  to  as  the  one  most  agreeable  and  fitting 
finale  to  the  day's  doings,  and  not  least  among  the  pleasant 


102  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK    SHOOTING 


remembrances  of  our  life  at  Stony  Point  are  the  evening 
hours  before  the  campfire,  when  reclining  in  the  cosiest 
corner  of  the  camp,  with  Tramp  stretched  out  by  our  side, 
vyq  watched  the  flickering  firelight  cast  its  grotesque  and 
fantastic  snadovvs  along  the  wall,  throwing  an  occasional 
fftfJLil.  gleam  u,pon  .Billy's  weather-beaten  face,  as  pipe  in 
mouth  and  snugiy  ensconced  in  his  tavorite  chair  before 
the  fire,  he  related  to  us  his  marvelous  tales  of  field  and 
flood.  That  evening  we  had  an  interruption  in  the  way 
of  visitors  from  a  neighboring  camp,  and  had  scarcely  set- 
tled down  to  our  evening  pipes  when  we  heard  the  dip  of 
paddles  and  a  moment*  later  the  sound  of  a  boat's  keel 
grating  on  the  pebbly  shore.  Springing  to  our  feet  and 
throwing  open  the  shanty  door  we  greeted  the  newcomers 
with  a  hearty  welcome,  receiving  from  them  in  turn  a  ring- 
ing shout,  as  having  drawn  their  boat  well  up  out  of  the 
reach  of  the  waves,  they  made  their  way  towards  us.  As 
they  stepped  from  out  the  darkness  of  the  forest  into  the 
narrow  circle  of  light  thrown  out  by  our  solitary  lantern, 
we  found  one  of  the  two  men  to  be  an  old  acquaintance, 
Mr.  George  Bearse,  and  the  other  a  hunting  companion  of 
his,  who  for  the  time  being  were  occupying  the  camp  at 
Bliss's  Point,  nearly  opposite  the  spot  where  we  were  en- 
camped. Our  invitation  to  come  inside  and  share  the  hos- 
pitality which  our  camp  afforded  was  warmly  accepted,  and 
having  thrown  on  more  fuel  and  refilled  the  pipes  all 
around,  the  remainder  of  the  evening  was  passed  in  social 
chat,  the  conversation  naturally  turning  to  ducks  and  duck 
shooting,  a  subject  upon  which  every  member  present  could 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  103 


say  something  of  interest  to  the  others,  so  varied  had  been 
our  several  experiences,  Billy  throwing  in  at  the  last  mo- 
ment, by  way  of  variety,  a  thrilling  account  of  a  bear  hunt 
in  the  Carolina  swamps.  The  time  having  arrived  when 
our  friends  must  depart  we  accompanied  them  to  the  shore 
and  bidding  them  good  night  watched  them  until  their  boat 
became  but  a  speck  in  the  darkness  and  the  dip  of  the  re- 
ceding paddles  were  but  faintly  borne  to  our  ears,  then  re- 
tracing our  steps  to  camp  made  ail  snug  and  safe  for  the 
night  preparatory  to  turning  into  our  cosy  bunks.  Billy, 
whose  sense  of  humor  never  left  him,  whether  wet  or  dry, 
cold  or  hungry,  always  attended  to  this  duty  with  great 
punctiliousness,  seeing  to  it  personally  that  the  door  and 
windows  were  strongly  barricaded  before  retiring  for  the 
night,  in  order  to  keep  out  tramps,  as  he  was  wont  to  face- 
tiously remark,  though  to  our  mind  it  was  extremely  doubt- 
ful if  any  of  these  nondescript  gentlemen  had  ever  paid  a 
visit  to  Stony  Point.  Finally,  every  detail  attended  to,  we 
wrapped  ourselves  in  our  blankets  and  lay  down  to  sleep, 
trusting  to  the  little  alarm  clock  to  wake  us  at  four  in  the 
morning.  Billy  was  usually  the  first  one  to  awaken,  he, 
like  all  sailors,  sleeping  with  one  eye  open,  and  it  was  the 
noise  occasioned  by  his  bustling  around  the  camp  that 
brought  us  out  of  a  peaceful  slumber  shortly  after  the  ap- 
pointed hour.  Hastily  donning  our  heavy  clothing  we 
joined  Billy  in  the  main  room  of  the  camp,  which  served 
alike  as  kitchen,  dining  and  general  lounging  room,  and 
having  lighted  the  oil  stove  soon  had  coffee  hot,  a  cup  of 
which  was  partaken  of  by  both  of  us,  and  we  were  ready 


104  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK   SHOOTING 

once  more  to  take  our  positions  in  the  '•  blind,"  where  we 
were  noisly  welcomed  by  our  aquatic  friends  and  allies,  the 
decoys.  We  found  the  air  decidedly  chill  and  frosty,  with 
a  light  breeze  from  the  northwest  blowing  down  the  lake 
and  from  our  corner  of  the  "  blind  "  we  could  watch  the 
stars  gleaming  brightly  through  the  interlacing  branches  of 
the  maples  and  birches,  turning  each  dewdrop  into  a  spark- 
ling gem,  as  with  senses  keenly  alert  we  listened  for  the  first 
sound  of  ducks.  We  were  not  kept  long  in  waiting,  for 
presently  there  was  borne  to  our  ears  the  faint  flutter  of 
wings  followed  by  a  light  splash  ;  and  at  the  same  moment 
the  decoys  set  up  a  lively  quacking,  conveying  to  us  the  in- 
formation that  they,  too,  had  noticed  the  new  arrivals.  It 
being  not  yet  light  enough  to  shoot  with  any  degree  of  ac- 
curacy, we  made  no  attempt  at  bringing  them  in  closer, 
feeling  assured  that  the  decoys  would  hold  them  where  they 
were  until  the  light  of  the  already  advancing  dawn  should 
enable  us  to  discover  their  exact  position  when,  barring  ac- 
cident, it  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  bring  them  near 
enough  for  a  successful  shot,  consequently  we  set  ourselves 
down  to  wait  for  the  first  stroke  of  daylight  to  appear,  ever 
and  anon  peering  through  the  port-holes  from  our  respec- 
tive corners  in  the  "  blind,"  each  eager  to  be  the  first  to 
discover  the  whereabouts  of  our  feathered  game  and  won- 
dering if  daylight  would  ever  come.  At  last  a  low  whisper 
from  Billy's  corner  tells  us  that  our  friend  has  sighted  the 
quarry,  and  creeping  silently  to  his  side  and  following  the 
direction  in  which  his  finger  points,  we  can  just  discover  in 
the  uncertain  light  a  small  dark  object  some  seventy  or 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  105 


eighty  yards  distant  upon  the  water  which  long  experience 
tells  us  is  a  bunch  of  ducks.  A  few  moments  more,  and  so 
fast  does  the  light  increase  that  we  are  enabled  by  the  help 
of  the  glass  to  make  them  out  distinctly,  and  are  gratified 
to  learn  that  they  are  black  ducks,  five  in  number  and  that 
their  attention  is  already  turned  towards  our  decoys,  who 
from  time  to  time  issue  forth  a  low,  cooing  sound,  well 
calculated  to  dispel  any  lingering  suspicion  of  danger  that 
might  possibly  lurk  in  the  breast  of  their  wilder  brethren. 
Creeping  noiselessly  back  to  our  old  position  in  the  further 
corner  of  the  "  blind,"  from  a  convenient  port-hole  of  which 
we  can  watch  every  movement  of  the  birds,  we  somewhat 
impatiently  await  events.  Will  they  swim  in  nearer  or  will 
they  remain  stationary,  preferring  a  wide  reach  of  open 
water  to  the  possible  dangers  that  may  be  hidden  near  the 
shore,  or  will  some  luckier  sportsman  in  a  neighboring 
camp,  having  brought  his  game  well  within  range  of  his 
breech-loader  and  not  knowing  of  our  anticipations,  or 
totally  regardless  of  the  same,  fire  trie  shot  that  shall  send 
our  birds  scurrying  away  on  rapid  wings  to  be  seen  no  more 
by  us  that  day,  or  will  some  careless  act  on  our  part  or  un- 
toward movement  among  the  decoys  serve  to  awaken  a 
suspicion  among  the  ducks,  which  once  aroused  we  know 
full  well  will  prevent  our  securing  the  coveted  shot?  These 
and  other  thoughts  of  a  like  nature  flit  rapidly  through  our 
brain  as  we  crouch  low  in  our  narrow  hiding  place  and 
anxiously  await  the  next  movements  of  the  game.  At 
length,  after  what  seems  to  us  an  interminable  length  of 
time,  but  which  in  reality  has  been  but  a  few  minutes,  the 


106  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK    SHOOTING 

birds,  apparently  thoroughly  convinced  of  their  safety  and 
desiring  to  make  a  closer  acquaintance  with  their  brethren 
near  the  shore,  commence  to  swim  slowly  in  towards  the 
decoys.  A  few  minutes  later  and  the  required  distance  has 
been  lessened  and  they  are  within  range  and  directly  be- 
neath our  guns.  Slowly  they  draw  together,  presenting  a 
fine  shot  and  the  supreme  moment  for  us  has  arrived. 
Billy  gives  the  signal,  we  take  quick  aim  and  fire  together, 
and  as  the  smoke  clears  away  five  glossy  forms  are  stretched 
out  upon  the  water  as  the  result  of  our  patience  and  skill. 
Tramp  gleefully  springs  to  the  door  of  the  "blind"  anxious 
to  perform  his  part,  and  striking  boldly  out  retrieves  them 
one  after  the  other,  his  face  wearing  a  proud  look  of  satis- 
faction as  he  lays  them  at  our  feet.  After  duly  inspecting 
the  birds,  which  prove  to  be  in  fine  condition,  we  again 
turn  our  attention  to  the  business  in  hand,  it  by  this  time 
being  light  enough  to  enable  us  to  see  all  over  the  lake. 
No  ducks  being  in  sight  we  improve  the  opportunity  of  in- 
dulging in  a  little  exercise  of  which  we  stand  in  need  after 
our  enforced  quietude  of  the  past  hour,  and  by  the  time 
the  sun,  rising  like  a  globe  of  fire  from  behind  the  highest 
point  of  the  eastern  hills,  throws  its  first  rays  athwart  the 
dancing  waves,  we  are  well  warmed  up  and  are  back  in  our 
old  places  with  field-glass  in  hand,  and  once  more  eagerly 
scanning  the  surface  of  lake  and  sky  for  any  sign  of  ducks, 
but  we  were  not  privileged  to  secure  another  shot  at  our 
favorite  game  on  this  particular  morning,  our  only  remain- 
ing shot  being  at  a  sheldrake,  which  Billy  considerately  al- 
lowed us  to  bag  unaided,  and  under  circumstances  so  pe- 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  IOJ 


culiar  that  we  deem  the  narration  of  sufficient  importance 
to  be  recorded  here.  The  morning  was  well  advanced 
when  we  first  discovered  him  a  mere  speck  on  the  water, 
and  so  far  distant  that  the  glass  failed  to  reveal  his  true 
identity  as  he  gradually  worked  his  way  down  the  lake, 
drifting  before  the  wind.  We  made  several  attempts  to  at- 
tract his  attention  by  the  aid  of  the  decoys,  until  having 
shown  us  plainly  by  his  movements  that  he  was  not  the 
game  we  were  after,  we  gave  him  up  as  a  bad  job,  but  as 
events  proved  he  was  not  to  be  shaken  off  so  easily,  and 
having  been  attracted  towards  our  decoys  he  evinced  an 
evident  inclination  to  become  better  acquainted  with  them, 
and  altering  his  course,  with  head  erect  and  every  sense 
alert,  he  bore  rapidly  down  in  our  direction.  The  decoys, 
noting  the  approach  of  the  stranger,  set  up  a  most  vocif- 
erous quacking  as  if  to  frighten  away  the  intruder,  but  in- 
stead of  taking  alarm  he  only  swam  the  more  boldly 
towards  us,  uttering  a  well  simulated  quack  in  response  to 
each  scornful  cry  of  the  decoys.  As  this  was  the  first  oc- 
casion on  which  we  had  ever  heard  a  sheldrake  quack,  the 
whole  procedure  afforded  us  no  little  amusement,  and  in 
fact  we  have  never  heard  one  do  so  since,  though  we  have 
gunned  them  successfully  for  a  good  many  seasons,  and  be- 
lieve the  case  to  be  one  of  rare  occurrence  ;  neither,  as  a 
rule,  will  they  come  to  live  decoys  other  than  their  own 
species.  The  confiding  nature  of  this  particular  bird,  how- 
ever, proved  to  be  his  ruin,  as  he  was  promptly  gathered  to 
his  fathers,  serving  later  on  as  the  basis  of  an  excellent  duck 
stew. 


108  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK    SHOOTING 

The  episode  of  the  sheldrake  thus  disposed  of  and  a 
careful  scrutiny  of  the  lake  with  the  glass  revealing  no  sign 
of  ducks,  we  decided  to  take  in  the  decoys  and  proceed  to 
get  our  breakfast,  it  now  being  nine  o'clock  in  the  fore- 
noon, and  we  as  yet  having  had  nothing  more  substantial 
than  a  cup  of  coffee.  It  was  the  work  of  but  a  few  mo- 
ments to  feed  and  house  the  ducks,  then  repairing  to  the 
camp  we  soon  had  a  fire  started  and  shortly  after  sat  down 
to  an  excellent  breakfast.  The  wants  of  the  inner  man  now 
satisfied  and  the  remains  of  the  breakfast  cleared  away, 
Billy  proposed  that  we  make  an  excursion  to  the  neighbor- 
ing shore  in  search  of  firewood  and  also  to  procure  some 
branches  of  greeoi  stuff  with  which  to  repair  the  damage 
done  to  the  outside  of  the  camp  and  "blind"  by  the  late 
storm.  Accordingly  about  two  hours  before  noon  we  set 
out,  taking  our  guns  along,  and  with  Billy  at  the  oars,  though 
had  we  known  that  a  worse  gale  than  any  we  had  as  yet 
experienced  was  already  on  its  way  and  would  undo  all  our 
hard  labor,  it  is  doubtful  if  we  should  have  left  camp  at  all 
that  day ;  but  there  we  no  signs  of  storm  lurking  in  that 
bright,  beautiful  October  air,  and  it  was  with  light  hearts, 
therefore,  that  we  started  on  our  voyage  to  the  mainland. 
Skirting  along  the  eastern  shore  of  the  lake  we  reached  the 
entrance  to  Quauk  Island  Pond,  and  entering  upon  that 
beautiful  expanse  of  water  and  closely  hugging  the  shore 
soon  reached  the  place  where  Billy  said  we  were  to  stop, 
and  turning  the  boats  prow  to  land  we  ran  in  under  an 
overhanging  branch  of  a  sturdy  maple  and  making  the  boat 
secure  picked  up  our  guns  and  axes,  and  followed  by 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  1 09 

Tramp,  stepped  ashore  and  made  our  way  into  the  forest. 
We  did  not  have  far  to  go  before  finding  what  we  wished, 
and  by  making  diligent  use  of  our  axes  soon  had  a  boat 
load  of  the  desired  material  with  which  to  patch  up  the  ex- 
terior of  the  "blind"  and  also  to  furnish  us  with  firewood 
for  several  days.  It  took  us  several  trips  to  carry  it  all 
down  to  the  shore  and  warm  work  it  was  too,  as  the  Octo- 
ber sun  was  hot  at  mid-day  even  here  within  the  forest.  It 
was  done  finally,  however,  after  considerable  puffing  on  our 
part,  Billy  having  the  good  luck  on  the  last  trip  to  shoot  a 
partridge.  Sitting  down  on  shore  we  rested  a  bit  and  then 
proceeded  to  load  the  boat,  and  having  trimmed  it  nicely 
so  there  could  be  no  danger  of  capsizing  on  the  return 
voyage,  we  pushed  out  from  shore  shortly  after  noon  and 
commenced  our  homeward  trip.  We  found  quite  a  strong 
wind  blowing  when  we  entered  the  lake,  which  caused  our 
little  craft  to  rock  and  sway  about  some,  but  under  Billy's 
skilful  pilotage  we  reached  the  camp  safely  without  acci- 
dent. Dinner  was  now  the  next  thing  in  order,  which  we 
quickly  prepared  and  disposed  of,  and  then  we  at  once  set 
to  work  to  repair  the  camp.  This,  it  took  us  most  of 
the  afternoon  to  accomplish,  and  we  had  scarcely  put  the 
finishing  touches  to  our  work  when  a  pair  of  black  ducks 
flying  by  directly  over  us  warned  us  that  if  we  expected  to 
take  any  part  in  the  afternoon  flight  it  was  high  time  we 
were  about  it.  Hatchets  and  saws  were  accordingly 
promptly  put  away  and  a  few  minutes  later  found  us  in  the 
"blind,"  with  decoys  in  position  and  but  one  object  in  view 
and  that  to  kill  a  black  duck.  We  watched  the  afternoon 


110  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK   SHOOTING 

fade  into  evening  twilight  and  still  no  ducks  came  our  way, 
though  an  occasional  boom  borne  across  the  water  from 
the  direction  of  Coleman's  Island,  told  us  that  our  friend 
Gardner  was  having  some  luck.  Twilight  faded  into  dark- 
ness and  one  by  one  the  stars  began  to  make  their  apear- 
ance  and  yet  we  were  loth  to  give  it  up.  Finally  Billy  de- 
cided that  it  was  useless  to  wait  longer  and  was  about  to 
take  in  the  decoys,  when  a  sudden  movement  in  their 
midst  caused  us  to  relinquish  our  purpose  for  the  time 
being,  and  a  moment  later  we  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
a  pair  of  ducks  swim  noiselessly  in  to  the  decoys.  Finding 
that  we  could  not  catch  the  sights  on  our  gun  owing  to  the 
fast  gathering  darkness,  we  whispered  to  Billy,  who  stood 
in  a  position  better  exposed  to  what  little  light  yet  re- 
mained, to  shoot  regardless  of  us,  and  a  moment  later  the 
report  of  his  gun  rang  out  upon  the  evening  air,  awakening 
the  echoes  among  the  neighboring  hills.  The  report  of  the 
gun  was  followed  by  a  splashing  in  the  water  as  of  escaping 
birds,  and  quickly  springing  to  the  boat  and  taking  Tramp 
with  us  we  pulled  rapidly  to  the  spot  as  near  as  we  could 
determine  where  we  last  heard  the  ducks.  We  pulled 
about  for  some  minute  before  getting  any  track  of  our  birds 
and  then  came  suddenly  upon  them,  they  at  once  taking 
wing  and  giving  us  no  chance  for  anything  but  a  snap  shot, 
which  we  took,  sending  the  contents  of  both  barrels  of  our 
breechloader  after  them.  By  this  time  the  darkness  was 
intense,  and  after  pulling  about  for  several  minutes  and  list- 
ening intently  for  any  sound  that  might  help  us  to  locate 
them  we  were  obliged  to  give  them  up  and  return  to  camp 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS. 


empty  handed,  Billy  being  of  the  opinion,  however,  that 
they  were  hard  hit  and  that  with  the  aid  of  Tramp  he  could 
find  them  in  the  morning  somewhere  about  the  shore. 
Getting  the  decoys  housed  for  the  night  once  more  we  pro- 
ceeded to  get  supper,  and  being  pretty  well  tired  out  after 
our  day's  toil,  retired  early. 

We  were  awake  early  next  morning  and  again  doing 
sentry  duty,  but  though  we  saw  some  ducks  we  failed  to 
secure  a  shot,  and  about  seven  o'clock  Billy  announced  his 
intention  of  leaving  us  alone  in  the  "  blind  "  while  he,  ac- 
companied by  Tramp,  took  the  boat  and  crossed  to  the 
eastern  shore  to  institute  a  search  for  the  ducks  we  had 
crippled  the  evening  before.  Accompanying  him  as  far 
as  the  spot  where  the  boat  lay  moored,  we  watched  him 
well  across  the  lake  and  then  returning  to  the  "blind  "  took 
up  our  lonely  watch.  About  half  an  hour  passed  when  we 
heard  the  report  of  both  barrels  of  Billy's  gun  in  quick  suc- 
cession, and  not  long  after  the  dip  of  oars  announcad  the 
return  of  the  hunter.  Stepping  out  on  the  shore  to  meet 
him  and  peering  into  the  bottom  of  the  boat  we  were  grati- 
fied to  see  lying  there  the  dark,  mottled  forms  of  the 
ducks,  which  Billy  had  found  as  he  had  anticipated,  skulk- 
ing among  the  reeds  which  lined  the  eastern  shore. 

We  now  decided,  as  the  weather  was  favorable,  to 
make  a  trip  to  the  village,  we  being  somewhat  anxious  to 
receive  letters  which  we  expected  were  awaiting  our  arrival 
there,  and  Billy  having  some  matters  at  home  which  needed 
his  attention ;  our  plan  being  to  return  in  the  evening  for  a 
final  try  at  the  ducks  on  the  following  day,  that  being  the 


SCIENTIFIC   DUCK    SHOOTING 


last  of  our  vacation.  Our  preparations  were  quickly  made, 
and  we  were  soon  scudding  along  before  a  brisk  northerly 
wind,  which  was  destined  to  become  a  hurricane  before  the 
day  was  done.  Gaining  the  opposite  shore  without  inci- 
dent we  wended  our  way  to  the  village,  and  taking  leave  of 
Billy  at  his  house  we  agreed  to  call  for  him  at  six  o'clock 
that  evening,  and  going  from  thence  to  the  post  office  we 
found  the  expected  letters  had  arrived  and  having  received 
them,  together  with  copies  of  the  morning  papers,  we 
passed  the  remainder  of  the  day  quietly  in  reading  and  in 
getting  in  touch  again  with  the  outside  world.  Shortly 
after  noon  the  wind  began  to  increase  in  violence  accom- 
panied by  rain,  and  the  prospect  of  getting  back  to  camp 
looked  dubious.  By  six  o'clock,  however,  the  hour  agreed 
upon  for  starting,  the  rain  had  ceased,  though  the  wind 
still  blew  a  gale.  We  decided  to  start,  though  looking 
back  now  upon  that  night  we  cannot  but  feel  that  it  was  a 
foolhardy  undertaking  on  our  part,  for  which  we  were  prin- 
cipally to  blame,  Billy  no  doubt  deciding  against  his  better 
judgment  in  order  to  give  us  one  more  chance  for  a  shot. 
After  floundering  about  in  the  woods  for  some  time,  part 
of  the  time  in  the  path  and  at  others  out  of  it,  for  it  was 
intensely  dark,  we  at  last  came  out  upon  the  shore  of  the 
lake  on  the  very  spot  where  we  had  left  our  boat  in  the 
morning.  Looking  out  upon  the  lake  the  prospect  was 
anything  but  inviting,  and  Billy  cast  many  an  anxious  eye 
to  the  windward  before  launching  his  frail  craft.  The 
waves  were  running  high  and  breaking  with  an  angry  roar 
upon  the  beach,  and  it  was  only  after  repeated  attempts 


IN    EASTERN    WATERS.  113 


that  we  got  away  from  the  shore  ;  once  afloat  it  was  com- 
paratively easy  work  until  we  reached  the  end  of  Coleman's 
Island,  whose  fir-clad  shore  loomed  up  before  us  a  mighty 
bulwark  between  us  and  the  fury  of  the  waves.  Once  clear, 
however,  of  its  protecting  shore  we  felt  the  full  violence  of 
the  gale  and  the  little  boat  commenced  to  dance  and  rock, 
shipping  water  at  nearly  every  stroke  of  the  oars.  To  add 
to  our  discomfort  the  rain  now  commenced  to  pour  in  tor- 
rents, drenching  us  to  the  skin,  still  we  kept  bravely  on, 
our  only  safety  lying  in  keeping  the  boat  out  of  the  trough 
of  the  sea  and  working  to  the  windward  as  fast  as  we  were 
able.  Many  times  it  was  impossible  to  tell  whether  or  not 
we  were  making  any  progress,  and  had  an  oar  blade 
snapped  we  probably  should  never  have  reached  Stony 
Point ;  but  the  trusty  ash  did  its  duty  nobly  and  thanks  to 
Billy's  skill  and  coolnes§  we  finally  ran  in  under  the  wind- 
ward shore  where  the  water  was  smoother,  and  catching 
hold  of  an  overhanging  branch  we  swung  the  boat  into 
comparatively  still  water,  where  we  rested  our  tired  muscles 
for  a  few  minutes  and  succeeded,  by  diligent  use  of  the 
bailer,  in  freeing  the  boat  of  most  of  the  water  we  had 
shipped  in  our  voyage  across  the  lake.  Starting  again  and 
keeping  well  under  the  lee  of  the  shore  we  made  much  bet. 
ter  progress,  and  after  awhile  managed  to  sight  through  the 
darkness  the  outline  of  Stony  Point,  stretching  out  a  pro- 
tecting arm  into  the  night,  beckoning  us  to  safety  and  shel- 
ter. Never  did  the  grating  of  a  boat's  keel  upon  the  sand 
give  us  such  a  thrill  of  pleasure  as  when  a  few  minutes  later 
our  little  bark  reached  the  coveted  shore,  and  springing 


114  SCIENTIFIC   DUCK   SHOOTING 

out  we  landed  on  terra  firma.  Dragging  the  boat  well  up 
on  the  shore  we  made  our  way  at  once  to  the  shanty  and 
attempted  to  start  a  fire  ;  most  of  our  firewood  had  been 
exposed  to  the  rain  and  it  was  some  time  before  we  could 
coax  a  blaze,  but  finally  we  succeeded  in  doing  so  and  di- 
vesting ourselves  of  the  wettest  of  our  clothing  tried  to  dry 
it  before  the  fire  while  we  set  about  to  prepare  supper. 
Scarcely  had  we  seated  ourselves  to  our  evening  meal  when 
Billy,  chancing  to  look  overhead  in  the  direction  of  the 
stove,  discovered  the  upper  part  of  the  shanty  to  be  on  fire. 
Some  defect  in  the  pipe  had  caused  a  spark  to  ignite  the 
dry  material  of  which  the  loft  was  composed.  For  a  mo- 
ment we 'looked  at  each  other  in  consternation,  for  to  be 
burned  out  on  such  a  night  as  this  meant  serious  conse- 
quences to  us  both,  but  fortunately  water  was  handy  and  in 
abundance  and  we  lost  no  time  in  drenching  the  building 
with  it,  so  that  in  a  few  minutes  we  had  the  fire  all  out,  and 
finishing  our  meal  and  making  sure  that  there  was  no  dan- 
ger of  the  fire  breaking  out  again  we  turned  into  our  blank- 
ets and  slept  soundly,  having  had  our  fill  of  adventures  for 
one  day.  We  awoke  on  the  last  morning  of  our  stay  in 
camp  to  find  Stony  Point  an  island,  in  fact  it  had  been  one 
practically  for  a  week  or  more,  the -water  of  the  lake  having 
been  continually  rising  for  some  time,  but  the  storm  of  the 
previous  day  and  night,  for  it  had  rained  hard  nearly  all 
through  the  night,  had  raised  the  water  so  high  that  we 
were  completely  cut  off  from  the  mainland  and  Billy  had  to 
bring  his  hip  waders  into  requisition  in  order  to  get  to  the 
boat,  which  he  found  about  half  full  of  water.  He  succeded 


IN    EASTERN   WATERS.  115 


in  tipping  her  over  far  enough  to  allow  the  water  to  escape, 
and  then  pulling  her  up  to  the  shanty  fastened  her  at  the 
door  so  that  we  would  not  be  obliged  to  swim  when  we  got 
ready  to  break  camp.  As  soon  as  it  was  light  enough  to 
see  to  shoot  we  waded  out  into  the  "  blind,"  where  we 
found  about  two  feet  of  water  over  everything  and  gaining 
every  moment  in  depth.  VVe  decided,  however,  to  stop  a 
little  while,  and  putting  out  the  decoys  patiently  awaited 
developments.  A  glance  around  the  lake  showed  the 
"blinds"  at  the  other  camps  to  be  in  as  bad  condition  as 
ours  with  no  sign  of  life  emanating  from  them,  and  we  con- 
cluded that  we  were  the  only  ones  that  had  sand  enough  to 
be  duck  shooting  on  a  morning  like  this.  We  stayed  long 
enough  to  kill  a  pair  of  black  ducks  which  came  whistling 
through  the  "  blind  "  with  the  speed  ot  an  arrow,  refusing 
to  stop  to  the  decoys,  but  who  stopped  in  answer  to  the 
call  of  the  breech-loaders.  These  Tramp  retrieved  for  us, 
and  then  taking  in  the  decoys  that  had  been  our  faithful 
allies  for  so  long,  we  hastened  back  to  the  shanty  and  com- 
menced to  load  our  duffle  into  the  boat ;  having  made  sure 
that  nothing  had  been  left  behind,  we  stepped  from  the 
door  of  the  shanty  into  the  boat,  and  Billy  having  locked 
the  door,  we  pushed  off  and  turned  our  prow  homewards, 
having  bade  farewell  to  our  island  home. 

We  crossed  the  lake  in  safety  and  having  reached  the 
landing  and  made  the  boat  secure,  sacked  our  camp  equi- 
page up  to  the  village,  winding  up  our  vacation  with  a  good 
game  dinner. 


Il6  SCIENTIFIC    DUCK    SHOOTING 

Many  things  have  happened  since  we  broke  camp  on 
that  wild  and  stormy  morning.  Tramp,  the  faithful  re- 
triever has  retrieved  his  last  duck  and  has  long  since  been 
gathered  to  his  fathers,  but  his  master,  we  are  told,  still 
pursues  his  favorite  sport,  and  the  shores  of  Wequaket  Lake 
still  wake  to  the  echoes  of  his  gun.  Jolly,  whole-souled, 
good-natured  Billy,  long  may  he  wave  and  wherever  his  lot 
in  life  may  be  cast,  peace  and  plenteous  provender  go  with 
him. 


/        — ' k\ 

ii    THE    END.    *fe»^CZ*— 
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